Cherry Bridge
by EbonyEye
Summary: Sakura always wanted to be in league with her teammates. But even after everything she accomplished, she felt weaker than they were. Fortunately, the story changes when a stranger comes looking for her with a shocking secret. SasuSaku, strays from the Canon Manga plot around Book 39, so *Spoiler Alert!*
1. Chapter 1

**Cherry Bridge**

**©EbonyEye**

XxXxX

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, just some of the OCs here.

**Warning: **Loads and loads of Spoilers!

**Pairings: **Mostly SasuSaku, but there's NaruHina, NejiTen, etc. too…

**Info: **This fic takes place after Team 7 sees Sasuke in the destroyed Sound base, Naruto just left to learn the Rasengan.

XxXxX

_She never relied on any sort of kekkai genkai – it was just her and her fists. _

**Chapter 1**

The early morning sun rose above the horizon, the clouds nearest to it flaming orange and crimson. Its rays of liquid gold spilled over the land, chasing away the last remnants of night.

And it was on this morning that her life veered sharply and changed drastically.

Haruno Sakura, second-best medic in the whole of the five nations, jogged out of apartment towards the Hokage tower. She had been summoned five minutes ago, and was curious to see what her shishou wanted to tell her about.

'_Maybe I'm getting a mission?' _she wondered.

As she walked through the slowly wakening village, she smiled and greeted people she knew. Something warm blossomed in her, something pleasing, when she saw all the respectful and grateful smiles of the Konoha people, shinobi and civilian alike. She had treated countless wounded, and she was pleased to know that her village loved her as much as she loved it.

Halfway up the stairs towards the Hokage office, Sakura met Shizune, who looked harried and nervous.

"Sempai, what is it?" Sakura inquired, alarmed.

"Oh, nothing… well, Tsunade-sama is a little… off, today…" the dark haired secretary mumbled, fidgeting.

Sakura's brow furrowed as she chewed over Shizune's words.

"Did she have anything to drink?" the pinkette asked.

"No. That's exactly what's so weird. She's so nervous; she's not even asking me for any sake." Shizune explained.

"Hm… thanks, sempai," Sakura smiled distractedly, turning to bound up the remaining steps.

Bursting into Tsunade's office, she blurted:

"Shishou, what's wrong?"

The scene in front of her took her by surprise.

Tsunade was not alone.

Maiha, a pale blue slug who was about three feet long, was sitting on the female Sannin's desk, conversing in a hushed and serious tone with her. Sakura knew Maiha; her shishou had summoned her often enough.

"Maiha-san, Tsunade-sama," Sakura greeted them, tilting her head, curiosity alight in her eyes.

The Godaime looked up, her face tight and worried. When she responded to Sakura's greeting, her voice came out in a low rasp.

"Sakura. Good. Come here and sit."

The pinkette quickly moved to do as she was told, her posture tense. What was going on?

Tsunade turned to the slug summon and said in a clipped, curt tone:

"Maiha, tell her."

The blue slug nodded and turned to Sakura.

"Sakura-san, there has been news from my brethren living in the forests near Konohagakure. Apparently, they tell me that somebody has been looking for you."

Sakura's spine snapped up, her entire body tensing. She stared at the slug with wide eyes and stammered:

"L… Looking for… me?"

"Hai, Sakura-san. I asked my brethren what the person looked like, but they are not summons and are color blind."

"They do have basic information, though," Tsunade broke in roughly. She was massaging her temples with her long fingers and continued:

"It's almost positively a shinobi, six feet two in height, with longish hair tied into four loose ponytails; two hang in front of his shoulders, two behind. The slugs say it's dark in color. He wasn't wearing any distinguishable marks from where he could come from."

Sakura stared at her mentor.

"Why would somebody be looking for me?" she mumbled, more to herself than to the other two in her room.

"I don't know, Sakura, but I don't like this. Maiha told me that he didn't seem hostile – he was very polite. He was in a village near the border between River Country and Fire Country. According to a common brown slug who happened to be there, he asked people in the village about a 'young kunoichi around the age of fifteen with unique pink hair and green eyes'. He seemed very desperate to find out."

"He'll be heading for Konoha, most likely," Sakura mused out loud. _'How strange,' _she thought to herself, _'I know I've completed several difficult tasks, but I didn't think that I'd draw any specific attention to myself…'_

Tsunade rubbed her temples thoughtfully before turning Maiha and saying:

"Well, thank you, Maiha. I'll make sure your warning is taken seriously."

"Hai, Tsunade-hime," the blue slug answered before poofing out of existence.

There was a beat of silence before Tsunade started again.

"So, we must assume that he'll be heading this way. I don't know what he wants of you, but I suggest that you don't stay at your usual apartment."

"Shishou," Sakura protested. "I can take care of myself."

A small smile turned the corners of Tsunade's lips up, but she shook her head and answered regretfully,

"Don't overestimate yourself, Sakura. Your own home is not safe if a killer is looking for you."

"But shishou—!"

"None of that. This is an order. You will stay at somebody else's place – Yamanaka, anybody… It's your decision, but I forbid you to live in your apartment until I say otherwise."

Sakura sighed, but nodded. The pinkette knew that, like her, her mentor was very stubborn. Especially in regards of safety for her.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," she gave in.

XxXxX

"Why, hello, forehead!"

"Good to see you too, Pig," Sakura grinned at her best friend.

Ino, as usual, was dressed to capture attention. Her skin tight mini dress, purple in color, had a low cut and the wide belt only accented her slender waist. Fishnets decorated her smooth thighs, and the four-inch stilettos completed her look.

The blonde pulled Sakura in for a tight hug and asked:

"Is there a specific reason you dropped by?"

"Actually, yes." In a low tone, Sakura recounted everything that Tsunade had told her about. Her voice was laced with worry, and Ino's fair brow crumpled as she took in the information.

"Hm…" Sakura's childhood buddy scrunched up her nose and asked:

"Do you know anything about this shinobi?"

"Other than what I told you, no."

"Oh, well… anyways, of course you're allowed to stay at my place! My mom's always happy to have you over, my dad never really cares 'cause he's working most of the time, and my grandpa likes you because you're the only one who listens to him when he talks."

Sakura laughed at that – it was true – and the two of them went to the pinkette's apartment to grab her stuff.

When they entered her living quarters, the first thing Ino did was sneeze as the dust tickled her nose.

"Phew, forehead! Is it just me, or do you live at the hospital and not here?"

Sakura blushed sheepishly and really looked around her apartment for the first time in months. Most of the time, she rushed in here, grabbed something small to eat – or nothing at all – and then crashed in her bed. She used the bathroom and bedroom the most; the kitchen and adjoining living room was covered in a layer of dust.

Ino shook her head, clucking her tongue, and the girls went to Sakura's bedroom to pack her clothes. There wasn't much, and Sakura rubbed the back of her head sheepishly when Ino glared at her over the pathetic bundle of clothes.

"Uh… hehe, I wash my clothes a lot, so I don't have that much," she laughed nervously.

Ino snorted and stuffed her bundle unceremoniously into a small pack.

"Really, Sakura! It's like you're locked into a tin can all by yourself! The first thing we're doing when we get to my place is going out to buy you new clothes. You'd think that you were dirt poor and scrounging for leftovers!"

Sakura opened her mouth to protest, but her best friend overrode her, saying:

"And no arguing with me, billboard brow!"

Sighing, the pink haired medic just shook her head and packed her medic kit and toiletries, and then made her way to the door.

She paused at the exit, scanning her now very bare apartment, and said:

"Okay, let's go."

Ino babbled on and on about what kind of clothes Sakura should buy, not noticing that she wasn't really listening. Sakura nodded once in the while, but most of her attention was turned to her Inner.

'**_Ino really is right', _**Inner Sakura snickered before teasing, **_'You should get a life.'_**

'_Shut it', _Sakura snapped. _'I'm happy with how things are.'_

'**_Really? I was under the impression that you were very _****_un_****_happy.'_**

'… _I'm not going to waste time arguing with you.'_

'**_Ha! Because you know that I'm right! Anyways, just let Ino-pig talk you into buying something hot and attractive. We want to presentable for the fellas in Konoha, ne?'_**

'_Who are you and why the hell are you a part of me?'_

Inner Sakura laughed and withdrew slightly, leaving Sakura to concentrate of her friend's ramblings.

"—namely a set of cute underwear too. Oh! I just remembered, there's a new shop in town we need to look at too, it sells really pretty kimonos, traditional and modern ones. You can even have them made special for you!"

Sakura blinked, returning to the present time and place from her talk with her Inner, and answered:

"Kimonos sound appealing, but I'm not so sure about the undies part…"

Ino laughed, waving a hand to brush away her statement, and said:

"Who cares what you're sure about and what not? I still get to drag you into shopping, and I know that you're so soft that you'll give in if I beg hard enough."

Sakura sighed but her lips twitched with amusement. The blonde knew her too well.

"Whatever," she smiled.

Ino grinned and glanced at the sun. It was already reaching the peak of its arc as it made its way along its daily path in the sky.

"It's almost midday, forehead, we should hurry. Oh! I know! Race you there!"

The next moment, Ino shot forwards – leaving a startled Sakura behind – and hollered:

"Last one at my place has to do the dishes after lunch!"

"Nani?! Masaka!" Sakura sprinted forwards, growling a curse as her pack slammed against her back uncomfortably. She dipped into her chakra for a bit of help and her speed increased dramatically.

Nearly flying over the ground, she had to dodge civilians until she decided to take to the top of the buildings. After all, Ino-pig hadn't said that you weren't allowed to roof-hop.

XxXxX

Somewhere outside of Konoha, Team Gai was returning from a mission in Suna, jumping through the trees. They could see the walls of Konoha in the far distance, and that boosted their spirits.

"Yoshi! We should make a youthful dash the rest of the way, so that we shall be there sooner!" Lee declared, looking at Gai.

The elder green beast of Konoha nodded and smiled, a blinding flash of light sparkling on his teeth as he exclaimed:

"What a youthful idea, Lee! You heard him team, whoever reaches the gates first receives a special prize from me!"

Tenten, an exasperate breath escaping her in the form of a sigh, asked:

"What kind of prize?"

"Now, Tenten, you should try to win even if you don't know the present. Winning is what makes the day bright and merry! But I shall humor you…"

With another blinding flash, he pulled out a black spandex suit with one hand, the other coming up with a thumbs-up gesture.

"YESSSS!" Lee cried, pumping his fist. "I will surely win the race and take the miraculous prize, Gai-sensei!"

"Lee, it gladdens me that you appreciate it so much!"

"Gai-sensei, I love you!"

"Lee, you amaze me!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

The pair of them leapt into action, disappearing faster than one can blink. And blink Neji and Tenten did.

The stoic Hyuuga sighed and glanced at Tenten, who smiled and shook her head.

"Oh, just let them have their fun," the kunoichi told her teammate. Neji grunted and stayed next to Tenten, leaping through the trees at her pace.

As the pair gradually approached Konoha, Neji's eyes strayed towards Tenten. He watched her from the corner of his eye, not wanted to get caught staring. For some reason, he found her leaping form fascinating, especially the way her breasts bounced as she landed on a branch and took off again.

Come to think of it, had he ever noticed how large her breasts had become? Not to mention her hips –

Neji caught himself, immediately terminating that particular train of thought. No, he had _not _just checked Tenten out! His gaze snapped forwards, a breath of pink creeping up his neck. He was glad his long hair partially hid the red tint.

Nonetheless, he continued to watch her – through the side of his head. He had activated his Byakugan silently, and was staring at her in a way that shouldn't actually be possible.

It was because of his activated dojutsu that he saw another chakra signature.

Pulling up sharply, he stopped as he landed on a branch, simultaneously calling out softly in warning:

"Tenten, there's somebody behind us."

At once, the weapon mistress halted as well, her hands automatically going to the scrolls she always carried.

"How many?" She asked, eyes darting around the woods.

"Only one. It's not a signature I recognize."

Tenten nodded and leapt higher into the branches, gaining the upper hand if the potential enemy passed under her. Neji followed her example and stationed himself towards her right, three trees away.

The chakra came nearer and nearer…

… And then a tall, dark haired shinobi leapt right between and under Tenten and Neji. His posture was relaxed, and Tenten briefly puzzled over it. It was possible that the fully grown man was a Genin – there had been cases of that – but something told her that he was stronger than that. Yet if that were so, then he should have noticed them by now…

Her musing was brought to an abrupt halt as he continued leaping, but turned his head slightly and called:

"Greetings, Konoha shinobi. I do not seek any quarrel with you; I wish to speak with the Hokage. Accompany me if you will, or not."

Both Tenten and Neji tensed and exchanged a glance before the kunoichi shrugged and dropped down several feet to land next to the stranger shinobi, her hands on her scrolls.

Neji's eyes narrowed and he landed gracefully on the stranger's other side. They kept pace with him, and Tenten inquired:

"What do you wish to tell Hokage-sama?"

The man turned his face towards her, giving her a full view of his features. She was quick to memorize it – shinobi instincts – and noted the long scar he sported that started at his hairline and ended at his chin, passing through one his eyes. The eye didn't seem harmed; only the eyelid showed the scar when he blinked. His hair was a dark red color, almost maroon, and tied into four loose ponytails. His eyes were a dark green.

"It's private, kunoichi." But something in his eyes flickered and he asked quietly:

"Although… it would help if you could answer a question. It will confirm if my trip was even necessary at all or not."

Neji answered instead of Tenten, saying:

"We can't promise anything."

"I understand. But can you tell me if there's a certain Haruno Sakura in Konoha? She has pink hair and green eyes."

Tenten froze, nearly missing the next branch she was leaping towards. Her voice was only very slightly strained as she asked:

"Why do you need to know?"

"I need to talk to her and the Hokage."

Tenten raised her gaze to look at Neji, finding him staring at her. Slowly, she blinked at him questioningly, asking his opinion, and he narrowed his gaze thoughtfully before giving a jerky nod in consent.

The kunoichi looked at the stranger and said:

"Aa, she's in Konoha."

The stranger seemed relieved and Tenten carefully asked:

"May we know your name?"

"I guess I owe you two," he answered, smiling wryly. "Very well, my name is Rokukan Takeshi."

"Pleased to meet you, Rokukan-san." Tenten replied. Neji just grunted and made no other noise.

The finally reached the gates and Tenten and Neji were greeted by a loud exclamation from Gai.

"That was a most un-youthful pace, Tenten, Neji! I could feel no motivation burning in your hearts or minds, and this was a most shameful defeat!"

Lee supplied his beloved Gai-sensei with his own shouts of:

"Now I have won, my youthful teammates, and you have nothing to hold your head high about!"

Gai paused as he realized that his two students weren't alone.

"Who's this, my lovely students? Did you capture him?"

"No, sensei," Tenten replied, sighing. "He wants to speak to Godaime-sama urgently. We bumped into him."

"Aha! He is trying to sneak in and silence our Hokage-sama!" Lee screamed, his teeth flashing in an imitation of Gai's.

"Excellent observation, Lee!" Gai boomed, giving him the thumb-up sign again.

The stranger, Takeshi, seemed amused and he said:

"Excuse me, Gai-san, was it? But I would like to speak to the Hokage. That's all."

Gai's eyes narrowed and he looked suspiciously at Takeshi, before drawing himself up with dignity and announcing:

"Team Gai, we will accompany this stranger through our beloved home village! Keep your eyes on him, stealthily and warily watch his every move, and be ready to make a youthful dash to catch him if he attempts to flee!"

Neji and Tenten groaned in sync, Takeshi fought a grin, and Lee beamed with renewed inspiration.

"Hai, Gai-sensei! I love you so much, Gai-sensei!"

And so it went on as the team led Takeshi into Konoha.

XxXxX

Sakura nearly moaned as Ino dragged her back and forth through Konoha's market and busiest streets where all the 'good' shops were. The blonde was very active, pulling the poor pinkette here and there, chattering away excitedly the whole time.

But that wasn't the reason for Sakura's groan.

The fact was… she was beginning to like it.

Ever since she started her tutelage under Tsunade, she never really had time to think much about her appearance. Sure, she was decent enough, but she dropped the whole 'Sasuke-kun fan club' thing. She had realized, after her teammate had betrayed the village, that skill was more important than looks, and had focused more on training.

But now, three years later, Ino was reintroducing her to shopping and other girly stuff, and she was settling right back into the action. And she _liked_ it.

"Here, in here, Sakura!" Ino grinned and pulled her into a shop. Sakura's eyes flew wide with horror as she felt herself tugged into a store that sold nothing but sexy underwear and skimpy pieces.

"No! Not here, Pig!" She cried, struggling against Ino's grasp. Her so-called best friend just giggled madly and shoved Sakura into a clothes rack that held bras.

"Just look silly!" When the pink haired medic continued to just stand and stare blankly, Ino rolled her eyes and looked around. Her eyes lit on a set of lacy pink underwear, a bra and matching thong, and she snatched it up.

"Here," she told her friend, shoving it into her arms. Sakura woke from her trance then and groaned:

"I said no, Ino!"

"Aw, please? Just try?" Ino gave Sakura the puppy eyes. Fighting the wave of guilt, Sakura looked away, but that didn't help. She could still feel the blonde's pleading gaze.

"Fine! I'll try it on!" She snapped, jerking her furious gaze back to Ino.

"Ha!" The blonde crowed with victory and grabbed another set. They were strapless and black, with small lacy bows on the side.

"These… and these… oh, look at these… don't forget some red ones… and these too!"

And so it went on, with Sakura carrying the growing pile of 'try-on' pieces. She was trying to hide her blush by tilting her head forwards and letting her hair partially obscure her face, but the burning heat told her that it was there.

Finally, Ino had gone around the whole store once, and told Sakura to go and try on the stuff while she herself would take a last look around to see if she missed anything.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura entered a changing room and proceeded to try on a corset-style black and red top, along with a satiny red pair of shorts that toed the line between questionable and downright indecent.

She gazed at her reflection with something akin to shock.

Had she really lost track of her growth? Because she didn't remember her body being so… curvy.

'_I guess I overdid it with only training and no appearance-caring', _she thought numbly.

'**_I told you so! But noooo, you're all about _****_skill over looks_****_! Didn't you notice our body growing beautiful?'_**

Sakura blushed at her reflection and studied herself closer.

Her legs were toned and very long for her proportionally small body, her skin pale and smooth. Her flat stomach was decorated by many scars, and she discovered a small scar on her thumb where she once bit too deeply to summon something. She didn't have very big breasts, but just enough to be attractive. As for her face… she still had a slightly large forehead. Her green eyes peered back at her from the mirror from under long lashes, which weren't very visible since they were light pink.

'**_Now, if only we wore something this sexy, we'd have all the male population at our mercy', _**Inner Sakura gloated.

'_Not really. I doubt I'm that attractive.'_

'**_Yeah, yeah, whatever. You're just too embarrassed to admit it', _**her Inner waved her hand dismissively.

Sighing, Sakura slowly went through the steadily shrinking pile, picking out the stuff she liked more and setting the others aside. She blushed as she picked up a mesh shirt, chewed her bottom lip nervously as she examined herself in the mirror in a very, very thin white top, and giggled at a cute, red shirt that was shaped somewhat like a heart.

Finally, after what seemed to be eternity, she emerged to a grinning Ino, two separate piles in her hands.

"This is the stuff I like," she told her best friend. "The rest I'll go put back."

"Alright, forehead! This is some real progress for you!" the blonde laughed and helped Sakura return the unwanted stuff.

The girls spent about five hours shopping, and even stopped for a snack in the shopping district. That added another hour or so as Ino brought Sakura up to date with gossip.

"I'm sure you didn't hear of it," the Yamanaka said excitedly. "It's the funniest thing _ever_!"

"What is it?"

"Shino got together with a civilian girl!"

"What? Aw, that's so cute! What's her name?"

"Chikafuji Miyabi. She's a year younger than him, but she's a real outdoors' person. She doesn't mind Shino's bugs at all! Can you believe that?"

"… Wow. It's a perfect match then! But… She's a civilian. Doesn't Miyabi have anything against Shino's lifestyle as a shinobi?"

"Most likely not, she's got to be used to it since her father's a Jounin. As for Shino, he's not bored with her. Maybe not as exciting as dating a ninja, but he seems happy."

"Aha."

And so it went on as they simply enjoyed each other's company. But it was interrupted as a messenger suddenly poofed into existence right next to Sakura.

The pinkette jumped, about to ask what he wanted, when he said curtly:

"The Hokage wants to see you, Haruno-san. Please go there immediately."

Without wasting any more time, he vanished.

Sakura's eyes widened with worry before they narrowed.

"This is most likely about the stranger looking for me," she realized, standing up. Apologizing to Ino, who promised to bring the results of their shopping back to Sakura's room, the pinkette used a teleportation jutsu to the Hokage tower.

She paused for a moment outside of the office, masking her chakra as she listened to Tsunade saying:

"– but even if she is to accept, she has to be back soon, Rokukan-san."

"I understand. Still, she should take up her rightful position in the service. She's possibly one of the last of us."

Sakura frowned. She didn't recognize the second voice. It was a man's, deep and even. Who was it?

Settling her features into a blank plain, she knocked twice, briskly.

"Come in!"

As she entered, all her thoughts went down the drain as she saw who was sitting next to Tsunade.

A man with dark hair.

A man with dark hair tied into four pony tails, two in front, and two behind his shoulders.

Tsunade sensed Sakura's alarm and quickly said:

"It's ok, Sakura, calm down. Sit."

Numbly, she did, all the while with her eyes glued to the man's dark green eyes.

The Hokage coughed and said:

"Sakura, this is Rokukan Takeshi. Please don't overreact when I tell you exactly who he is."

"Hai."

Tsunade closed her hazel eyes and took a deep breath while the man, Takeshi, swallowed nervously.

"He's… your uncle."

Sakura froze. Her mind went blank for the second time even as her body screamed at her to snap out of it.

Tsunade started speaking again, but Takeshi cut her off, saying quietly:

"Sorry if this came a bit suddenly, but I haven't ever really seen you. Last time I saw you, you were just a baby."

Sakura finally remembered how to move her mouth and she managed to ask:

"Are you… my father's brother?" After all, her mother had had silver hair and dark brown eyes. She had never seen her father – he had left before she was even born. As a child, Sakura had often fantasized over what her father looked like, and invented reasons for his disappearance.

"Yes, I am."

Sucking in a breath, Sakura calmed herself with a bit of help from her Inner. Her voice came out slightly more even and she asked:

"Why are you here? Why did my father leave?"

There was an uncomfortable pause, and then Takeshi sighed and told her:

"I'll tell you everything I told the Hokage. I heard that you were her apprentice, and that you were close, so I don't think it should be a secret from her.

"Your mother and father met while he was under the disguise of a civilian. His name was Rokukan Yuya. Anyways, your mother was a civilian, and they fell in love. But then he revealed himself as a shinobi, and she was shocked and angry with him, sending him away.

"Shortly afterwards, you were born. He never got to see you, and it was I who brought your mother the news that he died five months after you were born. That's how I saw you."

Takeshi paused, looking at her with a serious gaze.

"Sakura… do you know the clan of Rokukan?"

"… No."

"It's a shinobi clan, but I'm not surprised you don't know it. It's kept very secret, because they – no, _we_ – possess a very unique kekkai genkai."

Shock washed through Sakura. She had a bloodline limit?

"You probably know of the Temple of Fire, Sakura. But there is another sort of 'temple', call it what you like. It's made up out of the Rokukan, and only the Rokukan. Did you know that the Sage of the six paths was the one who gave us the bloodline ability?"

Takeshi took a deep breath before plunging on.

"To be blunt, I'll just tell you what the kekkai genkai is. The Rokukan are 'blessed by the gods'. They have the extreme control of _every single kind of kekkai genkai_. Bloodline limits are sorted into five categories: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. In the category of sight are the dojutsu, for example.

"Anyways, so the Rokukan know of all the other kekkai genkai. Their temple lies in the very south of Fire Country, nearly in Tea Country. All the records are there. In addition to the five senses ability, the Rokukan sometimes had a split mind."

Sakura flinched. Her Inner cackled evilly.

"Only a quarter of the Rokukan had this second mind, but those who did were a lot more powerful than the others. And if you had the second mind, and could tame it, then you were a step even further up.

"The Rokukan's greatest secret… was that with a tamed second mind, one could move into other beings' minds, even into those that weren't sentient creatures, for example animals. And if one could focus hard enough, there are recordings of some of the ancient Rokukan who told of the stars, moon and sun speaking to them.

"_That_ is the ultimate ability of the Rokukan," Takeshi told Sakura.

She stared at him, the silence that followed her uncle's speech seeming heavy. Sakura couldn't move, couldn't think. She couldn't believe that she was really not a Haruno, even though she had accepted the fact since she was very small. After all, her name came from her mother, Haruno Kiyomi.

She felt as if she were submerged, Takeshi's voice coming from somewhere far away. She was just… stunned. And that was an understatement.

Tsunade and Takeshi waited anxiously for her to find her tongue again, which she did after a very long silence.

"I… And why are you telling me this?" Sakura managed to whisper.

"With the Hokage's permission, I want to take you to Rokukan Temple to train you."

Another stunned silence.

Tsunade broke the awkward stillness with a cough and said gently:

"Sakura… I know that you're reluctant to leave the village, but look at it this way: Naruto is also away training. You should get stronger too."

"Hai, shishou…" Sakura sighed. She knew that the Godaime was right. She wanted to become more powerful, even if it was for the sole purpose of catching up to _him_, the nuke nin Uchiha.

"So it's agreed?" Takeshi looked at Tsunade, who looked at Sakura, who closed her eyes.

"Yes," the pinkette said softly. "I'm going."

XxXxX

**A/N**

Yay, new fic started! Hope you like it, and hopefully it doesn't drift too far from the actual manga. I haven't read it for a while except for the most recent chapters that come out, so please forgive me if it doesn't quite follow the real plot.

The next chapter will be up in two weeks at the most.

Please leave a review behind!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Sempai – Senior at work, older graduate

Shishou – Master, Teacher

Hai – Yes

Nani? – What?

Masaka! – No way!, Impossible!

Yoshi! – Alright!


	2. Chapter 2

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_The path he chose led to power – but not to peace._

**Chapter 2**

"Wow…" Sakura whispered.

Takeshi grinned and waved a hand towards the temple's magnificent gates.

"Like it?" he asked.

"Yes."

The Rokukan Temple was a beautiful building, but rather small. However, Takeshi had told her that most of it was underground.

"That's where the archives and records are kept, along with training rooms." He had explained to her.

Now he led her towards the gates and quickly bit his thumb, swiping it across a circle of seals on the gate's lock. He left a smear of blood behind, that suddenly dissolved.

"Only the Rokukan can enter the temple," Takeshi said. "You could unlock the doors too."

Sakura nodded mutely and followed her uncle into the building.

It was quiet and serene in the temple, with some statues and paintings hung on the walls. There were about a dozen small bedrooms, a spacious empty room all the way in the back, and a meditation room. To Sakura's surprise, some of the bedrooms were occupied.

"Okay, you can basically choose any of the empty bedrooms," Takeshi's voice echoed in the silent building.

"This is a temple?" Sakura whispered.

"Yes, albeit a slightly strange one, I'll admit. Anyways, everyone is probably downstairs…"

With a jolt, Sakura realized that the 'others' were all related to her. She was going to meet some of her family members!

"O… Okay," She managed to say before slipping into the very last bedroom on the left side of the hallway.

A comfortabl, decent sized bed was pushed up against one wall. A simple desk occupied the space between a second door, which led to a small bathroom, and the wall with a window. It was small and neat. She unpacked quickly and changed into clean clothes, feeling rather self-conscious. She wanted to make a good impression on her relatives.

When she finished, she emerged to find Takeshi waiting for her. To her surprise, he grinned at her suddenly and said:

"You're nervous, aren't you? Don't be; everybody will accept you."

Feeling only slightly comforted, she followed him to the large room in the back.

"Again, the underground levels can only be opened by Rokukan blood. Here, look…"

Takeshi led her to the back of the room where a single painting was hung. It displayed a picture of the heavens, with the sun, moon and some stars.

"There's a genjutsu around the painting. I want you to try and open the underground. You'll need to smear a bit of your blood across the painting – it doesn't matter where – and release the illusion."

Nodding, Sakura bit her thumb and left a trail of crimson across the painting. Then she slapped her hands together in a seal and commanded:

"Kai!"

Nothing happened.

"Kai! Kai! Kai!"

Sakura swore, her eyes narrowing, and she burst:

"Dammit; KAI!"

She felt the genjutsu dispell at last, leaving a very different painting behind. Across its front was a seal for teleportation.

"You mean…?" she asked.

"Yes, there is no physical entrance down to the underground temple. You can only get there through one of these seals."

"One of these?"

"There used to be eight of them, but now there are only three. This one, one in Sea Country, and one in Grass Country. Now, touch the seal. You'll be transported underground, and I'll be right behind you."

Sakura obeyed and felt the pull of the jutsu drag her in. A moment later, she was standing at the end of a long, nicely lit hall, having arrived in a whirl of cherry blossom petals. Takeshi appeared beside her after a moment and started down the hall.

Sakura's mind filled with unbidden memories as she walked down the underground hall. But her memories showed a dimly lit, damp, hostile hall. She remembered running down that hall, checking every door she found, and hoping with all her might that she was not too late.

Her memory thoughts rushed back to her.

'_Dammit, Sasuke, where are you?'_

Her breath hitched.

Takeshi noticed and raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Sakura quickly said, plastering a fake smile on her face. She hoped it was convincing enough.

Takeshi just shook his head and stopped in front of a large double door.

"This is the 'social room' where everybody can go if you don't want to return to the surface for a break. Come. They're waiting."

Sakura's breathing inched towards hyperventilation as her uncle knocked on the door before pushing them open. The rush of air from the opening doors hit her and she gaped at the people inside.

There were four people, three males and a female. Two of the males were obviously twin boys, probably around the age of eight or nine. Both of them had red hair with hints of lighter orange, and their eyes were turqoise.

The other male was a middle-aged man, with the occasional gray streaked through his red-brown hair. His eyes were a dark green, nearly black, and his skin tanned.

The woman was probably in her late teens, and smiled brightly at Sakura. Her hair was a shrieking crimson, flaming like a blood red sun, and her eyes were green-gray.

Takeshi broke the silence before it got too uncomfortable.

"Sakura, meet the Rokukan Tempel 'Priests'. The twins are Ken – to the left – and Ran – on the right. This is Eiri," he motioned towards the man, "and Azami." The woman waved.

"Everyone, this is Sakura," Takeshi pushed Sakura forwards.

She didn't know what to think, what to say. The twins peered at her curiously, Eiri smiled gently as if he understood her overwhelming emotions, and, as the sulence grew awkward, Azami said cheerfully:

"Ohayo, Sakura! I'm Takeshi's daughter."

"… Wait a minute…" Sakura swallowed.

Azami winked and answered:

"Yep, I'm your cousin."

A small smile finally appeared on Sakura's lips and she said:

"I'm so glad to meet you…" she let her gaze wander from face to face. "All of you."

All her life, she had wanted to meet her family. She'd seen her mother's side, the Haruno side, but they were all civilians and led a normal, carefree life.

Takeshi grinned and said:

"Eiri is my, um, second cousin twice-removed… er, something like that. We don't really keep track of the details. The twins are Azami's half-brothers from her mother's side."

Before Takeshi could continue, Ken – or was it Ran? – piped up:

"Sakura-san, what's with your hair?"

A blush crept up into Sakura's cheeks and she giggled, relaxing at the innocent question. Normally, back in Konoha, she'd get pissed at the annoying inquiry and yell at somebody, but here she welcomed the familiarity of it.

"It's partially from my mother. She had light pink hair, and I assume from Takeshi-san's appearance that my father had dark red which led to this."

"Oh," now the other twin spoke. "All of us Rokukan had reddish hair and greenish eyes. That's what my Azami-onee-chan told me."

"And right she is," Sakura smiled.

"As always," Azami added in a hushed, mischievous tone.

"Ne, Azami-onee-chan, you're not always right, like the time you –"

Azami swooped forwards, a hand reaching out to effectively gag her poor half brother.

"That's enough, Ken," she warned playfully. But instead of Ken continuing the story, Ran instantly picked up the thread of the narration and told Sakura:

"Azami-onee-chan once told us that Eiri-san always left his room in the morning to train 'til dark. But then when me and Ken tried sneaking into his room at noon to find a scroll, he was still there and kicked our butts."

As Sakura laughed at the story and Eiri chuckled, Azami released Ken and grumbled:

"Yeah, and he got me too when I tried saving the ungrateful littls twin brats."

"We're not brats!" The twins chorused.

"That's enough, you two." Takeshi said sternly. "Sakura is probably tired from her journey, and she doesn't need you two bursting her eardrums. You have enough time to talk to her later, after she's had some rest."

"Oh…" Ken pouted while Ran said:  
"Make sure to visit us, itoko!"

The pinkette hid her surprise as the little boy chose to use the relationship term and answered:

"Yeah… see you guys."

Azami winked and towed the two boys away, Eiri stood and politely excused himself, and Takeshi motioned for Sakura to follow him.

The others were no where in sight as Sakura trailed after her uncle down the hallway. Takeshi stopped in front of a door with a sign on it reading:

_Training Room 15_

"This is your training room, Sakura. Nobody will bother you in here, or your meditation room." So saying, Takeshi opened the door and showed Sakura her training room.

It left her speechless.

"Wow."

It was _huge_. The middle of the room was an empty floor, and mounted on the far wall was a large rack of many different kinds of weapons, ranging from a thin, elegant black whip to a heavy double-handed scythe. Countless kunai and shurikan were stuffed into a single shelf and many pouches, and about a dozen katanas of different sizes were hung on the wall.

There were many obstacles lined up against the right wall. Hurdles, bars, and some boulders met Sakura's gaze.

"You don't have to be worried about damaging the room – there's a jutsu around it that repairs it overnight." Takeshi's voice caused her to jump; she was so absorbed by the room.

"The door across the hallway is your meditation room – come."

Sakura saw the sign of her meditation room which read:

_Meditation Room 15_

It was eerily still in the room, which a thick mat placed precisely in the centre of the square floor. Lined along all four walls, and some around the mat, were candles of different sizes. None had been used yet.

"If you wish to switch of the lights when they bother you, then you can light the candles," Takeshi explained.

Sakura let her gaze travel slowly through the room. She was still unsure how she should react to all of this. She was beginning a new episode of her life, one which was so foreign, so strange to her, that she didn't know how to behave.

"Thanks, Takeshi…" she whispered.

A sudden thought occurred to her and she looked up at him, asking:

"Ojii, when will you start training me? Now?"

His brow scrunched and he said:

"So soon? Are you sure you're not too tired?"

Emerald blazed and Sakura shook her head energetically.

"No! I came here to train, ojii. I admit, seeing my family is also an immense pleasure, but my main reason is to grow stronger."

Takeshi gazed at her, and she held his probing stare. Finally, he nodded and she blinked. Had she imagined a brief flash of respect in her uncle's eyes?

"Very well, we will start now. Back to the training room!"

Sakura didn't need to be told twice. Rushing back to the other room, she turned to look at him expectantly.

"Please spike your chakra."

The pinkette raised an eyebrow at his strange request, but obeyed, flaring her chakra suddenly.

"Hm…" Takeshi walked forward to perch on one of the boulders along the wall.

"Correct me if I am wrong. You have excellent chakra control, use medic jutsu, are a genjutsu type, and have a second mind. Is this right?"

Sakura's eyes widened. How did he know of her Inner? Nobody knew that.

"Yes, it's right… but now did you know? Did Tsunade-sama tell you about my medical jutsu?"

"No. A person's chakra reflects every single jutsu that person has used. But it's not just the chakra alone. The Rokukan can, if they have a second mind, peer into other beings' consciousness."

Shock tingled up Sakura's spine.

"You have an Inner?" She burst out. "And you were reading my mind just now?"

"Yes and no. I have an 'Inner', as you called it, but I wasn't reading your mind." Takeshi shifted where he sat. "Sakura, what is chakra?"

"The mixture of physical and mental energy."

"And what is this mental energy?"

Realization dawned on Sakura and she asked a question instead of answering his.

"You just read the mental energy from my chakra?"

He nodded and said:

"The Rokukan's second mind allows one to separate the physical and mental energy in chakra. While the mental energy acts much like a record book, physical energy stores information on the person's present state of health. Right now, I can read that you are a little tired – probably from the journey – and that you're nervous, excited and very determined."

A cold shiver entered Sakura's body. She didn't want to admit it… but her uncle was sorta-kinda-maybe freaking her out. This was like mind reading!

Takeshi smiled at her and continued:

"You don't have to be scared of me, Sakura. Already, it's harder to read you than most people."

"Why is that?"

"Because your second mind, your Inner, is valiantly trying to fight me off."

'_**Hell yeah! Why did you forget about me?' **_

Sakura shook her head, dazed.

"Takeshi-san, if my Inner is almost constantly annoying me and trying to take over, then why is it protecting me?"

"Because even though it opposes you, it shares your body. If anyone were to invade your mind, then it effects both you and your Inner."

'_So that's why Ino-pig couldn't hold onto my mind! You chased her out!'_

'_**Yeah! So don't forget that I'm here, Sakura-no-baka!'**_

"Furthermore, you were speaking of annoying you and trying to take over. Well, it's an unfortunate habit of the second mind to strive against you. You'll have to tame it if it is to cooperate."

"How, ojii?"

"That's what I'm here to teach you for. The taming of the second mind, also known as 'The Binding of the Minds', might very well take over a week. There's a certain jutsu that allows one to look into their own mind and speak to the Inner."

Sakura nodded, shoulders tensing.

"What do I have to do?" she asked.

"When I start the jutsu, you have to talk with your Inner. Most likely, it won't be happy to hear that you're trying to tame it. It'll lead to a fight, and you're going to have to use your will to batter the other mind into submission. One way is to try to occupy the whole space that you'll see with your mind." His eyes slid closed. "The other way is to talk it into letting you tame it. Now, I'm going to perform the jutsu… are you ready?"

"Hai!"

Takeshi's hands flew through a couple of handsigns before settling on a unique seal. His breath huffed out as he concentrated, and suddenly, a burst of light illuminated the room.

Sakura blinked. She was in a dark void. Inner Sakura, her features negative and the opposite colors of what a normal person's should be, grimaced at Sakura.

"_**You! What do you want now? You've never been in here with me…"**_

"_Quite right," _Sakura answered. _"But I'm here now. And I'm here to tame you."_

Inner Sakura snarled, growing in size. Alarmed, Sakura remembered that Takeshi had told her to fill the space, the black void. Inner Sakura was taking over!

"_**I've tolerated having you in control," **_Inner Sakura hissed. _**"But that's going too far! I'm taking our body!"**_

"_Like hell you are!"_

Sakura and her Inner met, their fists raised to punch each other. Both of them dodged the other's punch. Sakura followed with a roundhouse kick, which Inner Sakura caught easily. But while Inner Sakura's hands were occupied, Sakura used her captive foot as leverage to kick Inner Sakura.

It didn't work since Inner Sakura moved safetly out of harm's way.

It went on, both minds struggling to gain the upper hand. They landed no hits, and slowly, both of them grew tired. They panted, limbs shaking, and Sakura knew that she couldn't win this way.

Desperately, she focused with all her strength and tried to _will _Inner Sakura to stop.

Inner Sakura faltered, then snapped out of it. In retaliation, Inner Sakura's mind stretched out as well, pushing against Sakura's command.

A red haze settled over Sakura's vision, and she doubled her efforts. Inner Sakura screamed, her voice echoing unnaturally in the black void and also increased her resistance.

Back and forth Sakura wrestled with her, striving to force her Inner to submit to her. It was incredibly hard, mainly since Inner Sakura seemed to be just as strong as her, and eluded her control every time Sakura thought she had her.

'_This can't go on much longer…' _Sakura thought desperately.

"_Why the hell do you fight me so hard?!" _she screamed.

"_**Would you like being controlled?" **_Inner Sakura retorted viciously. _**"I'd think not! It's bad enough with you pushing me into the back of our body, refusing to let me do anything! Nobody would want to be utterly and completely controlled!"**_

Stunned, Sakura faltered in her efforts, and Inner Sakura seized the opportunity to give a mighty push, sending Sakura reeling through her mind.

The next thing she knew, Sakura was looking into Takeshi's concerned face.

"Wh… What happened?" the pinkette croaked. Shocked at her rasping and hoarse voice, she cleared her throat and asked her question again.

"I sensed that you were reaching your limit," her uncle told her. "So I pulled you out of the jutsu."

Sakura sighed, relieved. She was drenched in sweat, and her limbs shook with exhaustion. She had no idea that taming her Inner would be so hard.

Takeshi handed her a glass of water, which she gratefully gulped down, and asked:

"So how did it go?"

"Pretty badly," Sakura admitted. "My Inner reacted just like you said it would. We fought for a while, and then I tried forcing my will onto it. It didn't work – I had no idea it was so strong."

"Well, I'm amazed you lasted this long already. Not many can even stand a single blow from their second mind the very first time. You should be proud of yourself." Takeshi smiled.

Sakura returned the smile and tried standing, surprising herself when her knees wobbled, threatening to give way. Takeshi caught her arm, warning:

"Take it easy. You've been at it for hours."

Sakura froze, eyes widening.

"Hours? Exactly how long?"

"Five hours."

A breath huffed out of Sakura. _Five hours. _She didn't even know that so much time had passed.

She seemed to be slightly dazed from the past events, so Takeshi changed the subject.

"It's evening now. There'll be dinner soon, so we should head to the social room."

Nodding, the pinkette followed him out, her mind whirling with the recent confrontation with her Inner.

While she thought about it, her Inner suddenly gave her a nasty twinge in her mind and spat:

'_**I hope you've given up. I'll **__**never**__** let you tame me!'**_

'_Urusai.' _Sakura ordered flatly in her head. _'We'll see who's stronger.'_

Inner Sakura snorted unbelievingly and jabbed:

'_**You seriously think you can match up and overcome me? Yeah, yeah, give me a break.'**_

'_Oh, I'll give you a break alright. Where would you most prefer it?'_

'_**A miracle! Sakura is using sarcasm!' **_Inner Sakura gasped with fake amazement.

Sakura sighed, blocking out her second mind's jabbing comments.

How in the world could she tame her Inner?

XxXxX

The next days were busy for Sakura. It quickly became a routine for her: get up in the morning, eat a light breakfast, go out behind the temple with Takeshi to train her already existing taijutsu skills, then eat lunch either outside with her uncle or inside with whoever was present. Afterwards, she would struggle with her Inner until mid afternoon, take a break, fight again with her Inner, then have dinner.

The strain of her training stripped away the last remaining unnecessary fat, leaving her face less rounded and somehow looking a little older, more mature. Her fine cheekbones were nicely defined, her chin slightly more pointed. Her movements gained grace and confidence, and the muscles on her shoulders, stomach and back were more visible now.

Every evening, she fell into her bed utterly exhausted, sleeping like the dead until the next morning's sunlight touched her face through the open shutters of her window.

As the days became a week, Sakura noticed a change in her struggles with her Inner. The fights lasted longer and longer, leaving no time for a break in between. She and her Inner fought continuously, strenuously, both trying to batter the other one down. And as the fights waxed longer, Sakura nearly beat Inner Sakura multiple times, though not succeeding because of pure exhaustion.

Her taijutsu levels increased as well, and she took great delight in her newfound speed when Takeshi taught her to flash-step. Now her destructive force was massive, since she could move so much faster.

To keep her medic skills up, she devoured countless medical texts in the endless libraries under the temple. She loved the quiet, serene library with the thousands of candles lighting the gloom. It was just the kind of place she needed to read with concentration. Not even Konoha's library could be compared with the Rokukan Temple.

A few days later, she was introduced to another training.

It started out quite normally with taijutsu one morning when she was sparring with Takeshi…

XxXxX

"Sakura, how about a quick break?" Takeshi called out to her.

Panting, the pinkette nodded, brushing strands of hair out of her sweaty face. Her knuckles hurt from all the ground-shattering blows she had struck, and her legs were sore from flash-stepping so much.

As they gasped for breath, Takeshi remarked:

"You're improving quickly, Sakura. Therefore, I've decided that we're moving on."

"Moving on?"

"Yes. With training your kekkai genkai."

Sakura's spine snapped up straight. Finally! She had never complained, but she really wanted to know about her own bloodline limit, because it wasn't in the library underground.

"The Rokukan's kekkai genkai is called 'Tenshi – the 'heavenly gift'. I gave you a rough introduction when I first saw you in the Hokage's study, but now we're going through the details.

"What we're learning is the Rokukan First Level. That means without influence of the second mind. All Rokukan can master this level.

"There are five categories: Shikaku, Kyuukaku, Choukaku, Shokkaku, and Mikaku. Those are the five senses of the human body, namely – in the order from before – sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste. Along with those five, there is another sense – the sense of sensing, Dairokkan, if you get my meaning. That's why our clan's name is 'Rokukan' – the Six Senses.

"By performing one of the jutsus, you will have absolute control over the category you invoked. For example, if you performed the 'sight' category, then you enhance your own eyesight and vision while being able to control your opponent's."

A tingle flashed through Sakura and she asked:

"But what if your opponent has a dojutsu?"

Takeshi's gaze sharpened and he said:

"Which dojutsu are you thinking of?"

"Um… well, the Sh – I mean the Byakugan." She didn't want to reveal her past with Sasuke and that her current training was to drag his sorry ass back to Konoha.

Her uncle didn't seem fooled though. She quailed under his knowing gaze and held her tongue.

"The Byakugan… hm, it's been a while since I had to match up against one of the Hyuuga." Takeshi said. "If you face the 'White Eyes', then you can effectively blank out your chakra pathways. They will only see the chakra of other people, unless you know how to slip into the others' minds. Then you can blank their chakra too. But I'm drifting from the subject."

Rubbing his neck, Takeshi continued with a pointed look in Sakura's direction.

"If you face the Sharingan," – _'Shit, he knows!' _– "then it can't copy _any_ of your jutsus, and _only_ yours unless – again – you enter the other peoples' minds. Also, the Sharingan won't see your chakra, and none of the genjutsu that are cast with the Sharingan work."

Sakura ran over the conversation again in her head, then asked:

"So basically, you can only effect what the dojutsu can do on yourself. Unless, like you've been saying, you can touch other people's consciousness."

"Correct."

Now Sakura understood why the Rokukan who had a second mind were so much more powerful. She turned the thought around in her head, realizing that with a tamed Inner, she could protect others as well.

"Ojii… am I doing poorly in The Binding of the Minds?"

The wary look that had crossed Takeshi's face when he spoke of the Sharingan melted, surprise taking its place.

"No, and not by a long shot. Why do you ask?"

"It's just…" Sakura counted the days she had been training. "I've been here for a week, and I still don't have any control over my Inner."

"Don't worry, it's normal for The Binding of the Minds to take over a month."

Sakura's heart sank. Would it really take so long? She was in no way an overly impatient type, but time was of an essence now that events were starting to quicken their pace.

Takeshi saw Sakura's disappointed look and ruffled her hair comfortingly.

"I'm sure you'll manage," he smiled.

She couldn't help but smile back at her uncle, and he stood up.

"Okay, so now I'll teach you the seals for Tenshi. First, I want you to start with this one…"

Sakura listened attentively, comitting the long string of handsigns to her memory. She memorized the differences in the five senses, and the last unique seal that only Tenshi required.

Sakura was briefly puzzled over this, and she asked:

"Ojii, why does the taste sense end on the tiger seal? Isn't that the special seal for fire element jutsus?"

Takeshi winked and answered:

"That's right, but here they are strung onto the Tenshi seal, which takes up the rear, so technically, it doesn't end on the tiger."

"Oh."

"Now moving on. I want you to try out one of the sense jutsus. Go on, take a stab at it."

Sakura nodded, raising her hands. Her fingers flew through the different seals and she ordered:

"Tenjutsu: Shikaku!"

Her eyes burned for a split second, feeling as if her very eyeballs were melting, then it was over as soon as it started.

Sakura blinked, amazed.

"Kami-sama…" she breathed, blinking again.

The world seemed so much _sharper_, as if she hadn't ever focused her eyes properly before. The outlines of objects were defined and clear, while colors shone in intense hues which she had never seen before. But what's more, she could see the grass and trees around her pulsing with light. White light.

"Takeshi," she whispered, turning her gaze to him. She jumped slightly when she saw him with her new eyesight – he burned with the blue light of chakra. And another she noticed was that his eyes seemed to be a pair of spotlights; two yellow paths of light flowed from his eyes, crossing paths in front of him.

Her uncle grinned, and she noticed that there were slight dips and flaws in his skin. His hands, as he held one up, was rough and calloused, which she could tell even from the distance that she stood.

"What do you see?" he asked her.

"I… the plants are alive. They're _pulsing_. And everything's so… so clear… But why are your eyes shining like two beams, ojii?"

Takeshi smiled and explained:

"With Shikaku, you can enhance your own eyesight, while seeing where exactly others can see. What you are looking at is my field of vision. Now, please disengage!"

Sakura's hands flew up and she ordered:

"Kai!"

Her eyesight faded to normal. For a moment, she was even disoriented; everything was blurry and dull.

"How much chakra did you use?" Takeshi interrupted her musing.

Sakura checked her chakra levels and her eyes widened, surprised.

"… Very little. It takes only a little bit more than Kawarimi no Jutsu."

"Correct. It's because you're performing the technique on yourself, not somebody else. Try another one."

Sakura obeyed, promptly activating the hearing sense.

"Tenjutsu: Choukaku!"

A thump so loud it hurt her ears startled her. Clapping her hands over her ears, she winced as the sound of her hands meeting her skull echoed loudly in her mind.

The thump came again. And again.

"Ojii," she asked, scaring herself when her voice rang much louder than before. "What's the funny thumping noise?"

Takeshi grinned with barely contained amusement and answered:

"That's your heart, Sakura."

"Oh." She felt stupid. Takeshi's voice was also magnified so loudly until it hurt. Also, she could _hear_ the vibrations in the air that sound made, coming in unexplicably fast waves. Casting her eyes around, she realized that she could see the sound waves in the air. Some of which, she noted, were entering Takeshi's ears and disappearing.

'_Ha! I'm even better at sound manipulation now that Oto, the Sound Village, itself!'_

She winced as she grinned. Even her own facial muscles moving had caused a loud, sort of stretching sound that was just way too loud.

"Ugh," she groaned, "how do I make it quieter? Won't I shatter my eardrums at some point?"

"No, you won't. And to make it quieter, you'll have to put less chakra into the jutsu."

Reducing the stream of chakra, Sakura exhaled in relief as the loud _ba-dum _of her heartbeat lessened to a bearable level.

"Very good, Sakura. Now try another."

The pinkette couldn't help but grin. This was turning out to be much more than she expected. If she could tame her Inner as well, than she was well on the way to growing much, much stronger.

Her last thought before she performed another technique was:

'_I won't be left behind anymore. Never again.'_

XxXxX

That afternoon when Sakura entered her training room to confront her Inner, she felt confident for some reason. A plan formed in her mind.

"Are you ready?" Takeshi asked.

"Hai!"

Blinking, Sakura found herself in the black void once again, staring at her enraged Inner.

"_**What the hell is wrong with you?" **_Inner Sakura spat. _**"Can't you leave me alone?"**_

Sakura saw her second mind preparing herself for a fight, and quickly said:

"_Hold up one second – I want to talk."_

"_**Talk? What for?"**_

"_But I need to ask you first: Do you agree to speak calmly and without trading blows with me?"_

"_**Bakayaro. Fine, I'll listen."**_

Sakura inhaled deeply and started:

"_Do you remember when Sasuke left?" _The question stung in her throat.

Inner Sakura flinched, her expression becoming pained.

"_**Of course I do, moron." **_

"_Do you remember what it felt like?" _Sakura felt her own emotions come rushing up to the surface. Hurt, guilt, dispair.

Inner Sakura obviously was feeling the same, and small wonder: Sakura remembered that when Sasuke had left, that had been one of the only times when she and her Inner agreed on something – namely the bottomless anguish that tormented them both.

"_**Why are you asking me this?" **_Inner Sakura whispered.

"_Because I want to sort things out. We've always avoided thinking about Sasuke's betrayal – both of us, don't deny it! – so we've yet to unravel this mess."_

"_**You know as well as I do what I feel."**_

"_True, but I would like to hear it all the same."_

Inner Sakura closed her eyes, turning away. With a choked laugh, she said:

"_**We suffered… for who knows how long. It was the worst feeling ever."**_

"_Aa. And I decided to start my apprenticeship under Tsunade-shishou. Now, tell me what we felt when we encountered Sasuke in the Sound Base."_

"…"

"_Come on, out with it."_

"_**Disappointment, most of all, I guess. We weren't strong enough."**_

"_Right." _Sakura felt a knot thicken in her throat, making it hard to speak and urging tears to come down. Closing her eyes, she remembered how that had been…

**Flashback**

She rushed towards him, fist raised and chakra already gathering in her fist in preparation. He didn't even look up to acknowledge her as a threat.

'_Why you!'_

Just before her fist could make impact, Yamato shouted and dashed in between. For a moment, she couldn't think, didn't understand what had happened. Then bitter disappointment rushed up inside her. Did her taichou really believe her incapable of fighting Sasuke? She was the Hokage's apprentice, for kami's sake! She had trained hours on end, all just for this one chance, and now it was gone.

Glaring into Sasuke's cool, blank eyes, she felt her rage grow. How could he just not care? He would kill his old teammates and not even bat an eye.

'_Next time, I'm gonna pound some sense into you!' _she swore viciously to herself.

**End of Flashback**

Tears were rolling down Inner Sakura's face as they both remembered.

"_We were so disappointed…" _Sakura whispered.

"_**Aa, we were."**_

"_With both ourselves and Sasuke."_

Inner Sakura sniffled and suddenly turned agressively on Sakura.

"_**Why are you bringing this up?" **_she demanded. _**"All you're doing is making us both upset!"**_

"_Gomen, I'll get to the point." _Drawing herself up, Sakura stared at her Inner.

"_We share the same body, you and I. Even if I never realized it, you have helped me multiple times. I know it's because you wanted to protect yourself as well as our body, but you have my thanks as well._

"_Consider the current situation. Sasuke is well on the way to killing Itachi, and I have a bad feeling that he won't come back even afterwards. He's too deep in his own little hellhole to come to his senses. And, I know this sounds so cliché, but unless I get stronger, than I'll never get even close enough to pull him out. To do that, I need to knock some sense into that pretty head of his, and for that I need you._

"_Without you, I won't master the next levels of the Rokukan kekkai genkai. You heard our ojii just as well as I did in training. You know that if I tame you, that, yes, you will be controlled, but it's not like you won't have any freedom. If I tame you, I swear that I'll treat you right and you won't suffer. I'd never allow that."_

Sakura finished her conclusion and watched her Inner. All she could do now was wait.

XxXxX

**A/N**

And there you have it! Chapter 2 is fini. It's a cliffie, hehe, my bad.

I have to apologize that Sasuke-teme isn't showing up quite yet; at the moment he hasn't met Deidara yet and he's still running around with Team Hebi looking for good ol' Itachi.

Itachi: "Did you just call me old?"

EE: "Uh, hehe, old? Who said old?"

Itachi: *activates Amaterasu* "Die."

EE: *screams and runs away*

Please Read and Review, even thought Itachi just killed me! (Then why the heck am I still here? Ha! Itachi, you didn't get me!)

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Itoko – Cousin

Ojii – Uncle

Onee – Older sister

Shikaku – Sense of Sight

Kyuukaku – Sense of Smell

Choukaku – Sense of Hearing

Shokkaku – Sense of Touch

Mikaku – Sense of Taste

Dairokkan – the Sixth Sense (Intuition)

Kai – break, release

Tenjutsu: Shikaku! – Heavenly Art: Sight!

Tenjutsu: Choukaku! – Heavenly Art: Hearing!

Kawarimi no Jutsu – Replacement Technique

Baka – idiot (such a beautiful word XD)


	3. Chapter 3

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_He could run away, but it would do him no good: She would always be pursuing him._

**Chapter 3**

Inner Sakura had a strained expression on her face. She seemed to be struggling with Sakura's arguments, weighing her words carefully.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Inner Sakura finally conceded:

"_**I see the truth in your words. But that doesn't mean that I like it…"**_

Sakura waited patiently.

"_**If I let you tame me, I will just merge into another mind of yours. I myself will change, and practically disappear. I'm almost convinced, but there's one more thing:**_

"_**How can I know for certain that I'll still be here at all? I'll die, strictly speaking, and you'll forget that I was ever here. That's something I will not allow. I don't want to leave just to have my memory forgotten."**_

"_You won't die, and I will never forget you. I can assure you that, because even if I live to be an old cranky woman, __**you **__will still be there. Changed, okay, but not gone. You won't die."_

Inner Sakura's expression was unreadable, and Sakura swallowed nervously.

"_I said everything that I wanted to say… the choice is now yours alone."_

More silence.

Sakura really couldn't tell what her Inner was thinking. The stillness dragged on and on, and Inner Sakura just didn't say anything. Sakura was almost losing hope when her Inner finally bowed her head, whispering:

"_**You have convinced me."**_

Sakura's eyes snapped wide open, her heart leaping, and Inner Sakura continued:

"_**I give in to you, Sakura. I give you myself, my mind. Please never forget me."**_

As Sakura watched, astonished, Inner Sakura's features began to change. The negative coloring she originally had began to flip into normal hues and her voice started to change even as she spoke:

"_**I guess that I'll be different now. But somehow, **__t__**h**__a__**t **__d__**o**__e__**s**__n__**'**__t__** b**__other me anymore…"_

The words _Inner Sakura _on the forehead of Sakura's second mind began to fade. Wait, actually, no; only the word _Inner_ was disappearing. They dimmed, fading away, and suddenly, a perfect copy of Sakura was standing opposite of her.

The second Sakura smiled and said:

"_I am a part of you now."_

A wave of realization and gratitude flowed over Sakura, and she nodded, just as a mental pull started tugging at her. She memorized her Inner's – no, her own – face before she gave in to the drag and blinked open her eyes.

Takeshi watched her with an eager expression.

"So, what happened?" he inquired.

A huge smile stretched across Sakura's face and she blurted:

"Oh, ojii! I made it! I tamed my Inner!"

Takeshi smiled in response and he nodded approvingly.

"You have my congratulations, Sakura! I'm proud of you. You have made a big step towards progress! But we won't be able to train with your second mind yet; we're still on mastering the Rokukan First Level, the five Kan."

"Hai, I know." Sakura felt the urge to do a little victory dance right then and there. Also, the knowledge that her Inner wouldn't make any more snide and embarassing comments boosted her spirits.

"Since we're finished with The Binding of the Minds, we can go ahead and train with the First Level right down here." Flash-stepping to the weapons' rack, Takeshi easily took down a pouch full of kunai and shurikan. Handing it to Sakura, he took a second one for himself.

"We will train now; you may use one of the five Kan to aid you. Begin!"

XxXxX

Sakura emerged from the underground levels, exhausted. The moon shone softly between wispy shreds of clouds into the temple through the windows. The training had been hard, plus she was still mentally drained from her talk with her Inner.

No, that wasn't the whole truth.

Even though she was so proud of her new achievement, she wasn't quite happy.

In her conversation with her Inner, she had brought _him _up again. Not the best of ideas, but it was necessary.

'_C'mon, Sakura, you know that you can't be down every single time you think of him!' _she chastised herself.

But still… it hurt.

The pinkette felt her joy slowly ebb away, leaving a disheartened scowl on her face. Muttering angrily about a certain chicken-ass-hair male, she made her way to her room to shower. Stripping quickly, she stepped under the warm stream of water, hoping that it would chase away her morbid thoughts.

It didn't help. Memories of his face, his voice, flickered through her head. She squeezed her eyes shut – but still, his bottomless eyes stared arrogantly into her own.

'_Damn you, Sasuke,' _she clenched her teeth. _'If only you'd know what Naruto, Kakashi and I went through because of you! If only you'd see reason!'_

Not feeling in any mood to prolong her shower, she finished up quickly and stepped out to dry herself. She discovered a new scar, shiny and pink, from the first day of training with her uncle. It distracted her, thankfully, and she thought:

'_The first lesson was the hardest. He thought I could flash-step! Huh, right. And then he cracked four of my ribs and dislocated my shoulder when he kicked me too fast for me to react to.'_

The scars, old and new, seemed to call to her eyes as she examined herself in the mirror. They were records, every single one of them, and told that she was a true kunoichi. And that was why she didn't heal them. If ever Sasuke were to see the hardships etched into her skin, then maybe he would respect her. Even Naruto had asked her once, she remembered with fond amusement, with shock in his blue eyes:

"Sakura-chan! When did you get all these scars, I didn't even notice!"

He was, Sakura reflected, still clueless even though he'd matured somewhat.

Stretching out on her bed with a large and slightly holey t-shirt, Sakura tried calming herself. Concentrating on the flow of air in her lungs, she breathed in and out slowly.

A memory flashed in her mind…

**Flashback**

Waiting on the bench, Sakura tried to quell her rising fear and nervousness. She hoped with all her might that she was wrong, and yet, part of her knew that it was inevitable.

'_But I can stop him!' _she thought foolishly.

Closing her eyes, she focused on her breathing, smoothing them into deep, even movements. But it didn't work; her mind was hyper-aware of her surroundings, and with a sinking feeling, she felt a familiar chakra approaching.

'_No, Sasuke… don't tell me that you've fallen.'_

**End of Flashback**

Emerald eyes snapped open. She wrenched herself upright, her body trembling. She could remember every second of that wretched night, courtesy of her sharp memory. And it never ceased to make her shed cold sweat at the thought of just _how_ far he'd fallen.

'_That idiot', _she lamented. _'That __**complete**__ idiot…'_

If only she'd brought Tsunade-sama along, or somebody else… but that wouldn't have stopped him. He would have waited and tried again and again to sneak off, until he managed.

'_If that's the path he'd chosen, then holding him against his will would have been just as bad as what he'd done.'_

Standing up, Sakura's lip curled with disgust as she realized that she wouldn't be able to sleep anytime soon.

She pulled on simple shorts and exited her room, her feet moving soundlessly against the silky, cold wood under her soles. Everyone else was probably asleep – she and Takeshi had been the last ones underground, and the temple was still.

It was better this way, with nobody to intrude on her and her thoughts.

Moodily, Sakura slipped through the door, walking to the garden behind the temple. She paused by a crater; her earlier handiwork of that day.

It reminded her that even though she had super-strength, she still needed to improve much, much more.

Sighing, she directed chakra to her legs and jumped twenty feet into the air, landing silently on the roof of the temple. The silver light of the moon cast her features into sharp shadows and light. Her clear eyes sparkled like emeralds, and her hair waved gently with the night breeze, silver and pale pink instead of the usual pastel pink color.

For who knows how long she just stood mutely, staring into the dark with an unchanging expression. Her clothes and her hair were the only things that moved, the rest of her had frozen to a statue.

The icy posture splintered as she huffed a soft breath and closed her eyes. She did not cry. She wouldn't allow herself to cry.

As she stood there, the breeze changed and she whispered:

"What are you doing here… Azami?"

The breeze stilled, her hair settling motionlessly against her shoulders and neck. It was still, eerily so, and then her cousin answered softly:

"I couldn't sleep."

Her quiet voice blended into the sounds of the night world. Making no noise, Azami came to stand next to Sakura, facing the same direction as her.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes, glancing at the older woman. Azami's hair was bleached pale silver and orange, her eyes reflecting the moon in their depths.

"Why couldn't you sleep?"

"The ghosts of the past haunt the presence," was Azami's cryptic answer.

Sakura sighed and said truthfully:

"Same for me."

Again, silence sank over them. In the distance, an owl hooted, long and low. A couple of frogs croaked from a nearby stream, their calls rising and falling in the night stillness.

Azami took a deep breath, seeming to enjoy the night, and said:

"I came here, to the Rokukan Temple, much earlier than you did. I was five. The twins were born here. I never understood the responsibility of the Rokukan, which had fallen onto me. Right now, Takeshi carries it. Eiri isn't too old for it, but he's only half Rokukan. My mother was a Rokukan, too, and my father is as well. The twins have a different father, and even if he were a Rokukan, I'm still older."

Her words hung in the air as she fell silent. Sakura chewed over her cousin's speech, and asked:

"Are you afraid of so much responsibility?"

"Iie. I am not afraid. But I don't feel right for the promotion. I have made many mistakes in the past." Her eyes closed, and the last part sounded mournful.

Sakura nodded, a jerky movement of her head, and whispered:

"I know what you mean."

"And I know that you know," Azami chuckled once before saying:

"I'm not forcing you to tell me of your story, but please know that you're not alone. We all have our regrets and faults, but it makes us to who we are. There is nothing better than knowing yourself."

"I know. But I don't always like who I am."

"Of course. That's only natural. 'The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.' We seek what we don't have."

Shifting where she stood, Azami asked quietly:

"Will you listen to my story, itoko?"

"Yes."

"When I was born, I had an older brother. I idolized him, loving him with all my heart. He was the best brother anyone could have, and he cared a lot for me. But one day, when I was five, he disappeared. Just like that. Nobody could find him, and believe me, the Rokukan are very effective trackers themselves. The clan was horrified by his disappearance, and I was moved to the temple the very next day.

"Things stayed the same for ten years. I trained, grew stronger, and mourned my brother. I believed him to be dead. But one day, I was sent out on a mission, which was to investigate why some key political leaders were disappearing, murdered by an unknown shinobi. I encountered a stranger who seemed to read my every move. We fought for a day and a half without rest, and then I collapsed from chakra depletion and exhaustion.

"He advanced, sword held high. I can still remember it clearly. He wore a long scarf wrapped countless times around him, and all that was visible of him were his eyes were the same gray-green as mine."

"Your brother?" Sakura asked softly.

"Aa. I recognized him and screamed for him to stop, to wait and look at me. He paused, and his eyes widened, before they hardened into a pair of matched, blank mirrors. He had recognized me, too, and he wasn't going to stop.

"He spoke to me then, his voice angry and accusing:

"'You betrayed me!', he snarled, 'you left me to die, you and mother and father. You forgot me and didn't search for me!'

From his words, I learned that he had been kidnapped by a dozen elite ninja, and even with his skill he was beaten so badly he was unconscious. When he woke, a week later, he couldn't remember anything. There was a man, a man with a mask, who spoke to him and comforted him, telling him of his past, or as much as he knew.

"'I defeated the ninja who kidnapped you,' the man with the mask said, 'but I fear that without your memories, you won't be able to find your way back.'

"The man with the mask taught him, training him until he was strong again. The man wasn't overly nice; he was impatient and rough sometimes, but he was the only one who cared for him.

"I was so dismayed when I heard his story. I had the suspicion that the man with the mask, whoever he was, had deliberately planned this. I also learned that it had been my brother who had murdered dozens of leaders from many different villages under orders from the man with the mask."

Azami lowered her eyes, her voice becoming pained.

"I begged him to believe _me_, not some snake-tongued stranger, but he didn't listen. He was about to stab me through the heart when, with a surge of panic, I overwhelmed him.

"As I saw him kneeling in front of me, helpless, my resolve crumbled. I let him go. That was my first mistake.

"During the fight, he had touched my mind, and relearned about the location of the Rokukan Temple. He crept here one night a month later and killed my mother. Takeshi wasn't here, and the twins' father protected me and defeated my brother. But as he was about to strike the last, fatal blow, I cried out, distracting him.

"Because of my unruly emotions, Ken and Ran's father flinched, faltered, and my brother killed him. I was so shocked, I couldn't think. I'd just killed my half brothers' father, _me_, Sakura! I was the reason for his death.

"Anger quickly took me, and I charged forward even as my brother pulled his sword from the corpse. He couldn't react fast enough, and I stabbed him in the stomach.

"As he slowly died from blood loss, the amnesia jutsu suddenly faded. He blinked, recognized me, and then horror came onto his face as he realized that he'd killed so many on a stranger's order.

"I tried saving him, but I didn't know any medical jutsu. He died just when light entered his life again. And for that, I can never forgive myself.

"But there's always been a question in my mind – who was the man with the mask? Why had he destroyed my family? What gave him the right to break our peace? I've hated him then and now, and I won't rest until I find him, to talk to and maybe to destroy."

Sakura's mind whirled, imagining her cousin's situation. She could understand Azami's story only too well – Sakura herself faced a difficult decision.

"How could you kill him?" the pinkette whispered. "Even if he was evil at the point?"

Azami's eyes met her own, deep sadness in her expression, and she replied:

"Would it be right if I sacrificed innocent lives just for my brother? It would be wrong, and if he were in the right state of mind, he would want me to stop him. That I know; he was intelligent and believed strongly in doing what was good and right."

Sakura thought about it, and asked:

"But what if you'd known that the amnesia jutsu vanished with his weakening body?"

"Then I would have caught him, trapped him, and then worked on trying to return his memories, his sane mind. I would try to give him life, and love."

"Aa," Sakura whispered.

Azami sighed, a low exhale of her breath, staring at the moon. After a short silence, she said:  
"Thanks for listening, Sakura. I wanted to talk to somebody for some time now, but I couldn't get the courage together to tell anybody. Again, thanks."

Sakura smiled at her cousin and said:

"Thank you for telling me."

Azami returned a vague smile, before turning.

"I'm going to go to bed. You?"

"I'm… staying a little bit. You go on, I'll eventually return."

"Okay. Good night, itoko."

"Good night…" Sakura felt the breath of wind graze her skin as Azami silently leaped off the roof.

Staring at nothing in particular, Sakura thought about her cousin's story. It must have been hard for her, she stated in her mind.

But more than anything, the pink haired medic was starting to realized something else, something that she could sense coming towards her in the future swiftly. It was something that Azami's and her own story had in common.

Closing her eyes, Sakura swallowed thickly.

'_If I get the chance… would I be able to kill you, Sasuke…kun…?'_

XxXxX

The next night, Sakura transported herself down the underground levels, cautiously feeling around for other peoples' chakra signatures. She felt no one's but her own. Everybody else was sleeping in the temple above ground.

'_Now's my chance', _she thought.

Slipping into the library, Sakura took a deep breath. Where would she start her search?

As to what she was looking for…

**Flashback**

"Ojii, you said that the records of kekkai genkai were in the temple, right?" Sakura was puzzled by the fact that she couldn't find any bloodline limit texts in the library.

"Underground, to be exact.

"But I can't find them." She countered.

Takeshi eyed her suspiciously, then said:

"They're hidden. That's all I'm going to say. As the tradition goes, the young Rokukan aren't informed of the kekkai genkai in the world until they complete the First and Second Level."

"Aha…"

**End of Flashback**

But Sakura was determined to find the kekkai genkai scrolls.

'_I guess I'll start with looking for any genjutsu cover-ups', _she shrugged inwardly.

An hour later, and she was nearly bursting with frustration. She had searched _everywhere_; she had looked for any secret compartments, genjutsu traps, transportation seals like the one upstairs that might take her to the scrolls, and hadn't found anything.

'_Where could they be?' _

"Ugh!" she groaned.

Suddenly, she stopped, calming herself.

'_Think, Sakura! If the Rokukan had to finish the Second Level before being shown, what would that mean? What would a Second Level Rokukan have that a First Level wouldn't?'_

An idea struck home.

'_The second mind! Of course! How could I be so stupid?'_

Quickly, Sakura snapped her eyes shut and internally searched for her second mind.

Prodding her own mind was not easy. She hadn't learned how to find her Inner without Takeshi's jutsu, and she had even less clue about how to use it. But she was determined to find her Inner and the kekkai genkai scrolls.

She clenched her jaw, racing through her own mind, until suddenly, with a snap, she felt something else.

'_Bingo!'_

Her second mind! She was _in _her second mind!

Amazed, Sakura realized, in a sort of detached way, that her consciousness had just jumped from one of her minds to the other without much effort.

'_Oh. My. Freaking. God.'_

Eager to try her second mind, Sakura realized that it held exactly the same amount of information that her main mind had, except this one had so much more space, just waiting to be filled.

'_That's why I have a large forehead', _she thought wryly.

Looking around, she decided to go through the library again. Maybe this time, she would find the scrolls – after all, maybe her second mind saw things differently.

Walking between a couple of tall bookshelves, Sakura grimaced. She had still found nothing. What else could she do?

As impatience leaked into her bloodstream, Sakura turned her concentration inwards. To her Inner Eye, her second mind was large and roomy, and, with an act of frustration, she pounded against the walls of her second mind. To her surprise, it gave way a little under her push.

Emboldened, she pushed harder.

The entire 'wall' of her mind stretched under her pushing, and she finally felt something give way, letting her second mind slip from her body.

Sakura's body froze, listing forwards slightly, having no mind in control to move it. Meanwhile, her consciousness floated freely outside, a sense of emptiness taking her. She felt like a spirit, or a ghost.

'… _Just wow…' _

As her mind moved through the library, passing through material objects, she suddenly felt a high, shrill sound. She made her way towards it, feeling it pull her closer and closer. All of the sudden, the sound exploded into hundreds of murmuring voices.

'_What is this?' _she thought, alarmed.

Concentrating on a single voice, Sakura's alarm turned into stunned triumph.

The voice she had singled out was reciting:

"… bond with a dog at an early age, creating an unbeatable team that cannot be seperated. The Inuzuka Clan members specialize in tracking scents, as their sense of smell is highly magnified. Furthermore…"

'_The records on kekkai genkai are not scrolls!' _Sakura numbly thought. _'They're stored as presentations that only a Rokukan with a second mind can hear.'_

She had also realized from the beginning of the recital that the voice was speaking of the Inuzuka, Kiba's Clan.

'_This is just amazing', _she concentrated on another. To her disappointment, it was on another bloodline limit, one that existed in Iwa.

'_Where is the Sharingan?'_

Trying to get the thousands of voices to listen, she flung her thoughts out and yelled:

"_I need to know of the Sharingan!"_

Instantly, all the voices blanked out, except for a single one. Sakura's mind recoiled slightly with shock as she recognized that the voice belonged to Eiri.

"The Sharingan, the kekkai genkai of the Uchiha, is probably one of the closest dojutsu to the Rin'negan of the Six Path Sage's. It has the ability to copy any jutsu other than kekkai genkai, can predict movements, cast genjutsu and tints the eyes of the user red with black tomoes.

"Not all of the Uchiha can use this, as it awakens in only a fraction of the Clan. Usually, it awakens around the age of fifteen or sixteen, and is more common in boys than in girls.

"The Sharingan has another property: the Mangekyou Sharingan. The price of it, though, is extremely high. To gain the Mangekyou, one must kill his or her best friend."

'…_!' _Sakura's mind went blank. You had to… _kill_ your best _friend_?! What kind of sick exchange for power was that? How come she only learned of it now? Did the Uchiha really do that, even while the Clan was still alive before Sasuke's aniki killed them?

"The emotional mess of that price caused woke the Mangekyou," Eiri's voice continued. "To sever the tie of friendship with your own hands shook the consciousness into reaching for more power as a comfort.

"But there was a flaw in that system. An Uchiha by the name of Madara found out that by overusing the Mangekyou, you slowly went blind. He also discovered that you could receive an eternal Mangekyou, but in exchange for another devastating task.

"You were required to implant a sibling's Sharingan."

'_EW!' _Sakura experienced a very unpleasant feeling. As a mind outside of her body, she couldn't puke, but back in between the bookshelves, her body shuddered and collapsed against one of the bookcases in response to her shock.

"By doing so, the Uchiha could gain the eternal Mangekyou.

"But what does the Mangekyou do? A trait that commonly popped up was the technique of Tsukuyomi, the ultimate genjutsu. It weaves an entire _world_ of genjutsu, a complete different dimension, all to user's desire. In it, time has no meaning, which can lead to centuries of torture that would only take a second of real time.

"Sometimes, if an Uchiha had two Mangekyou abilities, a third would be born out of it. This, however, was rather rare, thankfully.

"All in all, the Sharingan is one of the most precious kekkai genkai in the whole world. Many have tried stealing it, and failed, due to its formidable power. Not many can face a Sharingan, much less a Mangekyou Sharingan."

Eiri's voice paused, then went on:

"The Rokukan can control the Sharingan, but not all of the Mangekyou. A Rokukan of the First Level can stop up to two of the Mangekyou abilities, but never has anyone managed to bridle the third. It's simply too much effort. Even the Second Level isn't much help against a Mangekyou; all you can do is touch other beings' minds and protect them from two abilities.

"One can argue that the Mangekyou is also a Tenjutsu in a way, yet the Rokukan would rather believe it's a Devil's Gift. Why would a God have one murder his friend and take the eyes of a brother or sister to gain power? It is a sickening path to strength, but fortunately, the Uchiha do not easily tread that path. We may count ourselves lucky in that," the voice finished.

With a swelling hum, the other murmuring voices returned, each telling of a different kekkai genkai. Sakura, however, couldn't move, couldn't think.

Finally, she jolted out her mind-freeze and hurried back to her body. She found herself slumped on the ground, stomach churning.

There was something akin to an electric shock as she rejoined her body, and then she blinked her eyes.

Breathing quickly, she stood and hastened out of the library. Her heart thumped wildly as she imagined all those whispering voices hanging in the silent air of the library. Sakura headed back towards the upper level of the temple, dying for a breath of fresh air.

She had a lot to think about.

XxXxX

Takeshi burst from the cover of the trees, throwing a cluster of shurikan at Sakura with supernatural speed. She dodged rather slowly, one of the star-shaped weapons carving a bloody furrow into her shoulder.

Her uncle tried not to let his disappointment show – it wouldn't help in any way to be crestfallen – and hurled a kunai with an explosive tag at her.

Sakura blinked, waking from her hazy thoughts, and realized that there was a tag-bomb coming towards her, and fast.

She ducked and tapped into her chakra to flash-step across the clearing, even as the bomb detonated harmlessly a couple hundred feet away.

As she stopped and got her bearings, a second kunai surprised her, embedding itself with a soft _thump_ into her thigh.

Sakura didn't cry out, her mind registering the pain rather dully, and pulled it out with one swift movement.

All of the sudden, Takeshi appeared in a burst of smoke and attacked her with a complex series of kicks and punches.

The first time Sakura failed to counter, Takeshi's fist crashed into her jaw, nearly throwing her to the ground. Then, as she scrambled up, her eyes widened as she realized that his foot was heading towards her stomach. Even worse, she was too late to try and dodge or counter.

She took the hit full force to her gut.

Blood spurted from between her teeth as she bit her tongue by accident. Her body folded like a wet dishrag around her uncle's blow and knocked her breath out of her lungs.

Takeshi stopped, flashing forwards to grab her before she could impact on any of the trees.

"Hold it, we're stopping," he said, eyebrows lowering sharply.

As he set Sakura down carefully, he scolded:

"Sakura, you're not concentrating! It's as if your mind's wandering somewhere else, and you are taking hits that you easily avoided in the past! What happened to you?"

Sakura looked up, plastering a fake mask of innocence on her face and chirped 'brightly':

"Oh, nothing, ojii! I'm just tired…"

"It's mid morning, Sakura," Takeshi deadpanned. "You can't be tired already, unless you didn't sleep last night."

"Um… yeah…"

"What were you doing last night?"

Takeshi's question struck home and Sakura flinched before she could stop herself. Her mind frantically tried coming up with a plan, but it was still groggy from leaving her body for the first time and sleep deprivation.

Finally, she gave up and went with the truth.

"I was in the library, ojii."

"Aha. And what were you doing?" Her uncle's voice was even, but a little too smooth. His gaze as intense and she felt disapproval radiate off of him.

"… You can guess what I was doing."

Takeshi released a sharp huff of breath and turned away from her, crossing his arms. His tone was perfectly reasonable and flat as he asked:

"Sakura… did you look for the kekkai genkai records?"

"Yes."

A long pause crept in between them.

Then,

"And did you find them?"

Sakura averted her gaze from his back, chosing to stare at the blades of grass beneath her feet.

"… Yes."

"…" Takeshi was silent.

Sakura didn't dare to look up to see his expression, but she heard his disappointed voice saying:

"I have to admit that I'm surprised. No, more like shocked. But that doesn't change anything. You deliberately disobeyed me, Sakura, and now there will be consequences."

XxXxX

**A/N**

Dun dun DUN! Cliffie, olé! Haha, I'm sooo evil, no need to tell me. Hope you enjoyed Chapter 3!

I'll try and update soon, but my exam schedule's a bit out of control, and that means that my update plan has been thoroughly wrecked. So… basically, I'm not quite sure when the next chapter's coming.

Please Review and I'll love you!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Bakayaro (from the last chapter, sorry!) – jackass, hightened form of 'baka' XD

Iie - No


	4. Chapter 4

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_After all, she didn't believe in revenge – she believed in justice._

XxXxX

**Chapter 4**

Sakura stared dully at her feet.

She was sitting on her bed, swinging her legs back and forth with a moody expression.

Takeshi had forbidden her to go to the library in search of the kekkai genkai, as well as excluded her from training for the time being. It didn't help either that he had placed a jutsu around the library door so that it sealed itself shut whenever she came near it. Also, she couldn't transport herself in with a jutsu.

'_At least I know about the Sharingan now', _she thought, trying to cheer herself up.

But she wanted to know more! How was she to train quickly if she couldn't learn what her own kekkai genkai was capable of? It just wasn't fair!

Clenching her fists, Sakura stepped from her room and entered the field behind the temple. Her anger increasing by the second, she infused chakra to her fist and punched the ground with a frustrated scream.

The earth exploded into flying clumps of dirt and fragments of the underlying stone. She paid no attention to the sharp shards that cut her, instead delivering another punishing punch to the ground.

She kept it up, pounding the stone into sand, and was so into it that she didn't hear an approach until a voice gently said:

"You won't achieve anything with that."

Whirling around, half-shocked, half-angered by the intrusion, Sakura forgot her earlier agitation as she spotted Eiri.

"You!" she exclaimed with surprise.

"Yes, me." Eiri smiled and walked towards her calmly.

Sakura's cheeks grew hot as she realized that he'd been watching her childish outburst.

"Um… how long were you…?" she trailed off questioningly.

"A little after you started. I must admit, I'm slightly surprised that you would let yourself drown in your anger. You seemed to be the level-headed type to me."

Sakura blushed harder and stared at the ground, tapping her foot in her newly made sand pit.

"I can usually keep my temper in check, Eiri-san," she told him, then added rather sheepishly, "but I'm just so mad right now I don't care to control it."

"Ah, I understood," he came to stand next to her, then asked in a friendly way:

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"No… Yes…" she didn't really know herself.

Finally, she decided that she did want to ask something.

"Eiri-san… why is your voice floating in the library?"

Eiri's eyebrow rose, but he didn't seem to surprised about her knowledge of the kekkai genkai records. Takeshi must have told him.

"The Rokukan have developed a jutsu over time that preserves a tiny fragment of the second mind in the library. It's really a very small piece; you hardly feel it. It has just enough of the second mind to play back a recording of something in the original owner's voice."

Sakura thought about it for a second, than asked:

"How… How do you know so much of the Sharingan?"

Silence.

Eiri's face had gone stern and grave at the same time, and he said warily:

"Sakura, that is a very personal question. It's one of my most guarded secrets."

The pinkette bit her lip and looked away from him. She didn't want to press him, but still…

"Eiri-san… you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but I have to admit that I'm very curious."

Another silence stretched out, and then Eiri said quietly:

"I trust you to keep this secret. Nobody knows of it except for me and somebody else.

"When I was twenty-five, I lived in Konoha. I had finished my training at the Rokukan Temple under my father, Susumu. But I was a hot-headed young fool and wanted to make myself noticeable and famous."

Sakura was slightly shocked. Eiri – the man who was always quiet and polite and wise – hot-headed? The thought messed with her mind.

"So I went off and picked a fight an Uchiha, one from the ranks of the famous police system. His name was Reiji, and he looked down at me. I wanted to show him just how powerful I was, so I went all out at him.

"We fought for two days and nights. As the sun rose on the third day, I realized that I was almost at the end of my strength. I was practically dead. During the fight, I saw all of the terrible secrets of the Mangekyou. I only didn't know of it's black price.

"When Reiji defeated me, I was so ashamed. He was a couple of years older than I, and I can still remember his face as he gazed down at me.

"'Eiri-san," he said. His voice was sad and almost pitying. 'I hope you learned something today.'

I answered: 'Aa, I did. I don't want to rise so quickly anymore. But now, I have another goal.'

'And what would that be?' he asked me.

'I want to learn of your kekkai genkai, of the Mangekyou.'

Reiji tensed as I told him this, and answered coldly:

'That is not something I can tell you. It's a Clan secret.'

"Anger rose in me at that, and I did the most shameful thing in my entire life: I took hold of his mind and tore the knowledge from him. He yelled and thrashed until I ordered his body to be still from within his mind.

"And with that, I learned the secrets of the Mangekyou. I was so horrified, so utterly shocked by the bloody revelation, that I fled from his mind and out of Konoha, not even stopping to grab my belongings.

"It took me three years to recover from my foolishness. Later, I received a report from the Hokage from that time, the Yondaime, that I was charged guilty of torturing a fellow shinobi and also taking information on Clan secrets against Reiji's will."

Eiri stopped for a moment, his expression troubled, and said quietly:

"The Yondaime was much too kind to me. He gave me more chances than I deserved. He told me that if I would stay here, in the Rokukan Temple for the rest of my life, then I would be saved of my punishment and he would keep the Hunter nins off my back. You see, Sakura, the punishment would have been execution."

Sakura felt her jaw drop. Eiri – patient, calm Eiri – had been such a trouble-maker? He had almost been sentenced to death?

Eiri smiled at her shocked face and said:

"So, that is how I know of the secret. It took me many years to finally overcome my self-digust and realize that if I knew the secret of the Sharingan and Mangekyou, then I at least could do a favor to the rest of the Rokukan and tell them of it. So I had my knowledge recorded in the library."

Sakura was silent for a while, then smiled timidly at Eiri.

"Thanks for telling me this…" she whispered. "I think I should tell you something too – only it's just as secret as your story."

"I promise not to tell."

Sakura bit her lip, then quietly said:

"When I was twelve, I was assigned into a genin team. My two genin teammates were Naruto and Sasuke. They were always fighting… but it was in a fond sort of way.

"But Sasuke had a goal, and it was based on revenge. He was blinded by it, consumed by it, and one day, he left us. He betrayed us." Sakura's voice broke at the end and she fought back tears. Hearing herself saying what was whispered constantly inside her heart was a lot harder than she thought it would be.

Eiri's expression looked pained and sympathetic.

"That is indeed a crippling blow," he commented.

"But that's not all," Sakura swallowed. "Sasuke is an Uchiha."

For a heartbeat, Eiri looked stunned, then his face cleared and he concluded:

"And that is why you want to know of the Sharingan."

"Aa." Her voice dropped even further as she managed to say:

"I can't be sure, but his actions all point towards the fact that he wants the Mangekyou. I only know of this now because I listened to your recording."

A startled intake of breath told Sakura that Eiri had guessed what she had guessed a day ago, down in the depths of the earth in the library.

Eiri's voice came out low and strained:

"He… you… but for the Mangekyou… you have to…"

"Yes." Sakura's eyes hardened into brilliant chips of emerald, cold and blank.

"I think Sasuke wants to kill Naruto… or me."

XxXxX

Takeshi bit back a smile as Sakura sailed out of a tree so fast she was invisible, swiping a kunai at his shoulder. He dodged and swept out his foot in retaliation.

It had been three days since Sakura had been forbidden into the library, and her uncle had resumed training with her. He knew that she had learned her lesson – a lesson that could be vital in the future, namely to follow orders when it was necessary.

Holding up a hand, he motioned for her to stop for a moment and listen.

"Activate one of you senses," he instructed.

Sakura nodded, brightening, and her fingers flew through the handsigns with ease.

"Tenjutsu: Choukaku!"

She no longer had to fiddle around with the right amount of chakra in the technique – training with her senses had become so natural for her since it actually only needed good chakra control.

And she didn't have just _good_ chakra control – hers was _excellent_.

As she waited for her uncle to give her to 'go' signal, she was surprised when he continued:

"Now try and activate a second one. I warn you, it's not easy."

Sakura braced herself, tightening her grip on her hearing sense, and ordered:

"Tenjutsu: Shokkaku!"

Sakura's vision went white for a moment and she gasped. Her hold on her hearing sense jutsu was slipping and she tried to boost the effort while funnelling chakra into her touch sense jutsu as well.

Struggling to regulate her now chaotic chakra, she heaved a sigh of relief when things calmed down. Checking her jutsus, she felt a surge of satisfaction wash over her as the two techniques received an equal amount of chakra.

"I've got it," she announced.

Takeshi's jaw dropped, his desciplined face showing disbelief.

"Masaka!" he managed to say.

A grin lit on her lips and Sakura chortled:

"But I did! You can check if you want to!"

Takeshi shook his head and was silent for a few seconds, reading her chakra. After a long, expectant pause, he swallowed and muttered:

"Amazing."

Sakura felt the need to explain and she told him:

"Ojii, I'm a medic nin. You can't become a medic without a little bit of chakra control."

"But this isn't just a _little_ chakra control, Sakura! You're not supposed to be able to do this on your first try!"

"Oh." Sakura couldn't think of anything to say.

Takeshi stopped and took a deep breath before saying:

"Well… it seems that I have underestimated you. If that's the case… activate a third."

Sakura couldn't believe her ears, but she knew that, especially since she had her hearing sense activated, she couldn't have heard wrong.

Sighing, she started to form the necessary seals for sight sense.

This was going to be hard to pull off.

XxXxX

"BAAAAAAAAA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

Naruto shout nearly blew Tsunade's eardrums out. The Hokage sighed, shooting a last, longing glance at her sake bottle before quickly stashing it in a drawer in her desk and sealing it with a genjutsu.

And not a moment too soon.

The Kyuubi container burst into her office, nearly tearing the door off its hinges, his eyes bugging wide.

"Granny granny granny!" he cried, "Sakura-chan isn't here! Did she get kidnapped? Is she hurt? Dammit, _did something happen to her?!_"

"Shut up, gaki!" Tsunade snapped, on her feet in a single movement. Placing her hands flat against the surface of her desk, she breathed deeply in and out, simultaneously telling herself to not destroy her table again.

It had been an expensive piece of furniture.

"Listen, you stupid brat, and don't you dare interrupt!" she warned him, shooting him a withering glare. Naruto cowered away slightly, but the determined look on his face didn't leave.

"Sakura is on a _secret_ mission. I am not allowed to give you any information on it, since it isn't mine to give. So just shut up and be happy with the fact that she'd perfectly safe, understood?"

"H… Hai!" Naruto squeaked, taking several steps back. If there was something that could scare him, then it was when the female Sannin – or her apprentice, come to think of it – was furious with him.

Tsunade sighed inwardly with relief when Naruto didn't pester her with any questions.

_'Finally, some quiet—'_

"But Baa-chan…!"

'… _Oh, the irony of life!' _Tsunade thought grimly.

"I'm not repeating myself, gaki," she hissed. "Now get the hell out of here before I decide to pound you into the floor."

"I'm gone!" Naruto disappeared, nearly colliding with Shizune as the dark haired medic turned the corner into the Hokage study.

"Oi! Watch it!" Shizune cried.

"Sorry!" Naruto gasped, missing her by a hairs breadth.

Shizune shook her head – although it was rather on the fond side – and said:

"Tsunade-sama, here's some more paperwork. There's a deadline for all of it, and that's in two days. I'd advise you to start."

The Godaime sighed and accepted the stack of paper. As she started to read through the formal letters and applications, a small part of her mind was carefully monitoring Shizune and keeping the genjutsu up around her sake.

Her hopes plummeted when Shizune suddenly stopped and exclaimed:

"Hokage-sama! You have a genjutsu on your desk!"

"It's noth –!"

Tsunade's weak defense was overridden by a sharp cry of outrage from the dark haired medic as she dispelled the illusion and saw the drawer.

"Why, Tsunade-sama…!"

"…" the female Sannin busied herself with the papers, hiding her disappointment, as her apprentice opened the drawer and removed one precious bottle at the time.

"You'll thank me someday, Tsunade-sama," Shizune promised, stuffing the bottles into a bag and turning to leave.

She was just about closing the door when an ear-splitting shriek caused her to start violantly and drop the sake, the bottles breaking and shards of glass flying everywhere.

Alarmed, the medic spun around.

Tsunade had leapt to her feet, staring at a letter on her desk as if it were a poisonous snake.

"What is it, Tsunade-sama?!" Shizune rushed to her side.

Her breath coming in short bursts, the Godaime said dazedly:

"Uchiha Sasuke has been sighted."

Shizune froze in shock.

For a moment, the study was dead silent.

Tsunade snapped out of her stupor and ordered in a sharp, commanding tone:

"Shizune, get Hatake here right away! Don't let this information leak! Go!"

Her apprentice shot from the room faster than a heartbeat, leaving the Hokage standing there with her breathing approaching hyperventilation.

She didn't have any compassion for the 'Uchiha brat', as she so lovingly called him, but she had seen firsthand how much Sakura, her beloved student, mourned for him. And Naruto had, too.

Team 7 was easily one of the best teams of their time, and Tsunade was truly horrified that the Uchiha had torn it apart without a backward glance. Didn't he know what sort of chaos he had wrecked upon his teammates? Didn't he care for Naruto and Sakura?

Shaking her head, Tsunade hoped that her efforts wouldn't be in vain. If Konoha could find Sasuke and drag the brat back, then maybe there would be a chance of happiness for her apprentice and the Kyuubi container.

At least, that's what she hoped.

XxXxX

Sasuke scowled.

Sheathing his katana in a movement that could only be described as graceful, he stalked over the corpse of the Hunter nin he had just killed.

The Hunter had been from Kiri – he had been after Suigetsu. Of course, since the Uchiha knew that Suigetsu would have made a commotion of killing the nin, Sasuke had done it quickly and efficiently himself.

There was no need to go begging for unwanted attention.

"Let's go," he ordered flatly, turning away without a backward glance.

His team exchanged loaded glances before following him.

They had just left the Uchiha hideout where they had stocked up on supplies. They'd hardly set foot outside of the hidden Uchiha post when they were attacked by the Kiri Hunter nin.

As they jumped through the tree tops, Karin had to force herself to swallow at the sight of Sasuke's muscles coiling and releasing as he leapt. She was finding it immensely difficult to focus on anything else.

'_One day, Sasuke-kun will realized just how beautiful I am', _she thought dreamily. _'And then his glorious body will be mind! Oh, Kami, I wonder how he is in bed?'_

Her dreams were brought up short when she missed a branch and plummeted towards the ground. Her attention snapped back to the presence and she screeched loud enough to make all the birds within a mile jump and fly away in a flurry of wings.

Sasuke had turned to watch her fall as soon as she screamed. With no pity whatsoever he watched as she landed with a splash in a small stream underneath.

Suigetsu snickered and called to the redhead:

"You know, Karin, it's a very good idea to watch where you're going instead of ogling Sasuke."

"That's probably the only good idea you've got, you moron!" Karin shrieked back, flicking her sopping hair back. Algae and river slime slung to her face and shoulders, and a half-decayed body of a dead fish was lodged in her hair.

The sight was so memoriable that Suigetsu desperately wished for a camers. Instead, he settled for bursting into a roar of laughter, pointing and chortling:

"You've made a new friend, Karin!"

The redhead's eyes widened as she followed Suigetsu's finger and ran a hand through her hair. With an ear-stopping screech of disgust, she flung the fish carcass from her and screamed:

"Oh my god, that thing was _touching me!_"

"No, it wasn't. Nothing would touch_ you_, Karin, and even that dead fish knew that." Suigetsu grinned.

With an angry scream Karin stomped from the river, dripping water, and leapt back up to the branches.

"Sasuke-kun, make him stop!" she whined.

All she received was a flat, cold gaze and an even colder:

"Watch where you go. You're wasting my time."

Bitterness and disappointment welled up inside of Karin. She had wanted so much to look cool and graceful in front of him, but that had failed!

'_Thanks to Suigetsu, my fall became even more noticeable!' _she thought furiously.

But she was silent for the rest of the day, not daring to say a word after such a humiliating scene.

XxXxX

That night as Team Hebi rested, Suigetsu remembered something that had slipped his mind for a while. He kept wanting to tell it, but kept forgetting to do so.

"Oi, Sasuke!" Suigetsu called. He saw the Uchiha's head incline slightly towards him from across the fire in acknowledgement and the ex-Mist nin continued:

"While you were bargaining with that old Neko-baa-san, that other girl told me something interesting."

"…" Sasuke didn't comment, but his interest had been piqued slightly.

"Apperantly, a shinobi passed by the hideout about two weeks ago, looking for a certain pink haired kunoichi. And wasn't your genin teammate pink haired?"

Suigetsu rambled on and on about the news, and he didn't notice how Sasuke tensed at the mention of his teammate.

"Anyway, do you think it's your old buddy from then?" Suigetsu finished, completely ignoring the ominous displeasure that radiated from his team leader.

Sasuke turned away from his teammate, not showing his face. He didn't want Suigetsu to see the flash of wariness and confusion that had flitted across his features before he could hide it.

Somebody was looking for Sakura? And he had found the Uchiha hideout, for that matter?

"Did you ask Neko-baa-sama if this was true?" Sasuke asked, his voice saturated with a dark tone.

"Yes, and she confirmed it."

A silent snarl formed on Sasuke's lips. If a stranger was looking for Sakura, that could only mean trouble for her.

Part of him argued angrily that what happened to Sakura was no concern of his, and even if it was, then she was in Konoha, safe and sound. For goodness' sake, Konoha was one of the five great villages, not some defenceless civilian home!

And Sakura – _Sakura_ – was just a pathetic, hopeless little girl, so why would anyone want to harm her? She was useless, weak. So nobody would make the effort to hurt her, Sasuke concluded.

Then why was the other part of him worried for his pink haired ex-teammate?

He told himself that his worry was anticipation. He wanted his ex-teammate to disappear, right? He had cut his bonds and renounced his roots to Konoha. Futhermore, she and Naruto were a constant burden to him, and they kept him from fulfilling his goal. Yes, that was exactly how it was, Sasuke decided.

But even as he convinced his rational mind of this, a small voice in his subconsciousness whispered:

"_You haven't gotten rid of them, you know. And maybe – __**just maybe**__ – they'll accept you if you ever return after all this."_

And although he was loathe to admit it, that little voice gave him hope.

XxXxX

Panting, Sakura barely held herself upright, fighting the watery feeling in her legs.

She had four of her senses activated – and it was extremely difficult. Furthermore, it was draining her chakra rapidly since she couldn't control all four at once. It wasn't as easy as just activated two senses. The third had sort of multiplied the effort instead of adding, and so had to fourth. Sort of like squaring numbers.

'_I can't keep this up much longer', _she despaired.

A hand on her arm made her start and jump. Even with her senses activated, she was so tired that she hadn't sensed Takeshi's approach.

"That's enough, Sakura! You'll kill youself at this rate," he ordered.

"Hai," she gasped and cancelled all four at the same time.

As the jutsus disspelled, she collapsed to her knees, breathing hard. A trickle of sweat ran from her hairline to her chin and she quickly wiped it off.

"You're doing extremely well, Sakura, there's no need to push it," Takeshi warned, his eyes anxious.

"But I _want_ to push it!" Sakura shot back, her eyes hardening. "I need to learn this!"

Shaking his head, her uncle sighed:

"If you pass out from chakra depletion, you definitely won't learn this. Come, I want you to go into the library."

Sakura's face brightened immediately and she surged to her feet, albeit a little slowly.

"Shannaro!" she cheered and followed Takeshi into the temple to transport herself down underground.

Minutes later, they stood inside the library, Takeshi having cancelled the jutsu on the door that prevented Sakura from entering.

"I want to see exactly how far you have come with your second mind. Please demonstrate." Takeshi told her.

Nodding, Sakura closed her eyes to help herself focus and searched for her Inner. To her surprise, it was a lot easier this time, but the jump from mind to mind was just as shocking.

Grimacing, Sakura stemmed herself against the invisible walls around her second mind, finally breaking out of the confines of her skull and floating freely in the air.

She could sense Takeshi, but she couldn't see him – of course not, she had left her eyes behind.

All of the sudden, she felt Takeshi jump to his second mind too and he joined her in the empty space outside the body. But what confused her was that she could still sense her uncle in his body, and at the same time outside.

"_Well done!" _she heard his voice say. Shock jarred through her as she sensed that Takeshi's body leapt forward to catch her body as it collapsed.

"_Ojii?" _she inquired.

"_Yes, it's me. Rokukan can communicate over long distances with their second minds. Now, I will first tell you what I think of your abilities._

"_You are surprisingly good at changing minds, but it seems that you skip a step that most other Rokukan do, namely splitting the consciousness."_

Sakura's mind emitted surprise at that, and Takeshi explained:

"_You wonder right now why I can move my body and still be out here, correct? Well, I've split my consciousness. Most Rokukan at the beginning of Level Two do this, since they lack the strength to pull all of themselves into the second mind. My consciousness out here right now is weaker than yours, because not all of it is out."_

Sakura thought about it for a second before asking:

"_Is it bad that I did this?"_

"_No no! Not bad at all. Your mind out here is now strong enough to enter an unlimited amount of other peoples' minds. I, in my split state, can only enter up to five people at the moment. It varies from person to person."_

"_Aha…"_

"_Okay, now please don't be shocked. I want to show you just how much damage one can inflict with the second mind. But I will ask your permission first: May I enter your body?"_

Sakura's shock and embarassment spread around her consciousness and she stammered:

"_Enter my…?"_

Takeshi realized just how dirty his words had been and quickly corrected:

"_No, not like that, pervert! I… You know what I mean!"_

Sakura laughed uncontrollably for a minute, giggling madly at the fact that her uncle had said something that stupid. Finally, she agreed:

"_Okay, but only as long as it's not in the bad way."_

"_Of course."_

Sakura felt her uncle drift closer to her body, then suddenly, like water going down a drain, he slipped into her body.

Her astonishment grew as her body stood up without her command and began to walk around.

Instinctive panic flooded through her mind and she shot back into her own body. She couldn't supress the automatic flare of alarm at seeing her body controlled by someone else.

As she entered her body, she encountered Takeshi's mind steering her movements.

Without stopping to think, she rushed towards him, completely panicking. A mounting tension was coiling in her mind and demanded to be set free.

With that, the tension suddenly exploded outwards, reaching for her main mind which was still in her body, yet empty. Not stopping to consider if it was possible, Sakura felt her two minds join with a snap, like a buckle being closed.

Her two minds joined into a single one, and the vast power astonished her. But that astonishment wasn't enough to stem her fear and with an incredibly powerful mental push, she hurled Takeshi from her body.

Panting, Sakura snapped her eyes open, only to have them widen further.

She hadn't activated her sight sense, but her vision was improved in the way that it would have been with the jutsu. As was her hearing, she realized as her heartbeat thudded in her ears.

Shock bloomed in her as she felt all five senses tingling with the intensity that her kekkai genkai activated. But she hadn't performed the jutsus!

"Kami-sama…" she heard Takeshi's enhanced loud voice whisper.

Whirling around, she saw his field of vision, saw the sound waves entering his ears, saw the nervous system reacting to his clothes rubbing against his skin, saw the taste molecules on his tongue and scents drifting through the air and disappearing inside his nose.

_All _five of the senses were activated and she wasn't using any chakra!

"Oh. My. God." She gasped.

"My sentinents exactly," Takeshi answered, his face pale.

"Ojii… What did I do?" Sakura's voice trembled.

And then she heard the words that she never expected to hear from her knowing uncle:

"I don't know, Sakura. I don't know."

XxXxX

**A/N**

Another short chapter, people! Gomen nasai, but I'm stressed out by my freaking damn teachers! They had the _brilliant_ idea to place _all_ the tests in the span of two weeks, and now I'm struggling to survive these fucking fourteen days!

Sorry for the rant, you guys don't deserve it, but I need to lose steam _somehow_.

That being finished, I can start my proper A/N.

I hope you liked Chapter 4, even though it's short. I'm so happy that Sasuke can finally make his grand (not) entrance into the story! Hope you guys liked it, and if there are any Karin fans out there, I'd advise you not to keep reading because there will be _major_ Karin-bashing, people!

Please Review!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Shannaro! – Hell yeah! (Sakura's personal word)

Baa-chan – Granny

Masaka – No way!

Gaki – brat

Neko – Cat (Yes, that's where Team Hebi meet the cat summons that snub Suigetsu XD)


	5. Chapter 5

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_To be alone is to suffer. He has not yet learned this._

XxXxX

**Chapter 5**

Sakura's breath came in short, bursts of air. Her heart hammered loudly in her chest, the sound enhanced by her hightened sense of hearing.

Takeshi looked absolutely stunned. His dark green eyes were wide, and he breathed:

"Sakura… tell me _exactly_ what you did."

"I… don't know, ojii," Sakura responded truthfully.

Her uncle pressed his lips into a firm line, the yellow field of vision radiating from his eyes disappearing for a few seconds as he blinked slowly.

"Just try and describe it," he ordered.

Sakura thought back, desperately trying to gather the right words.

"I just got really scared when you wouldn't leave my body, and I just _forced_ my minds to work together." She knew she was babbling, but she couldn't care less. "So they just converged and… and… Oh, I don't know! Takeshi, what's happening?"

Takeshi shook his head slowly and swallowed. Then he muttered something she would have missed if her hearing weren't so sharp.

"… not natural. Not _normal_," he was speaking quietly to himself.

"Takeshi?"

"… Nothing, Sakura. Go and rest. Inform me when your minds split apart again, and try to remember exactly how if that happens. I'll be in the library."

_In the library. _His words echoed in her head as she nodded and turned to go back to her room. She knew that her uncle was worried. He may seem calm and composed, but her enhanced eyesight managed to pick out his subtle signs of nervousness. And she knew that Takeshi was going to the library to do some research.

'_I hope he finds what happened', _she thought anxiously.

As she plopped onto her bed, she sighed and stared wistfully at her hands. She could see the slight quiver of her skin, indicating the blood that was being pumped through her veins.

"Please change back," she said out loud, wishing that her minds would separate.

Sakura let herself fall backwards, her short pink hair fanning out around her face on her pillow as she stared at the ceiling.

'_Maybe I can force them apart again', _she mused.

Closing her eyes, she huffed out a breath as she slowly searched for her minds – or _mind_ as it was.

It wasn't as hard as before. Her combined mind was so large, glowing with so much life force, that it was impossible to miss. Examining her mind thoroughly, Sakura came to a couple of conclusions:

Her mind was so large now, that her senses could be enhanced without chakra because it was _normal_. A human being's senses worked with the brain, with the mind, and so it was only logical that if her mind was enlarged, than her senses would too.

Another thing she discovered freaked her out.

She was just about to open her eyes and quit the experimenting when she stumbled into a far corner of her mind and a jumble of voices jarred her consciousness. Sakura hadn't noticed them before because she hadn't looked in that particular place in her mind before, but now she could hear them faintly.

It wasn't like the recordings of the kekkai genkai in the library. The voices were colder, sharper, somehow _cleaner_ than a human's voice. But they were't speaking in a human language; they were somehow chiming and echoing like crystal bells on a frosty, cold day.

Delving deeper into her mind, Sakura tried to understand the chiming voices. And finally, just when her head began to ache fiercely, she caught snatches of sentences:

"… _has no clue what she's doing. Maybe…"_

"… _shall rise again…"_

"… _once more. We shall speak with humankind again…"_

"… _At last, another one has risen! We have found a Bridge once more!"_

The last sentence was so unexpected, that it shook her out of her meditation. Gasping as her eyes snapped open, Sakura shook her head once.

"What the hell was that?" she asked her empty room. She was dazed; the voices had been so disorienting that she had almost not been able to understand them.

Her minds were still joined, and she groaned in frustration. There were so many mysteries surrounding her kekkai genkai that she just wanted to scream. Why did she have to be different? Couldn't she have been like the other Rokukan with a second mind, and not have to go through these strange and unsettling ordeals?

Grumbling, she closed her eyes and started meditating once more.

Avoiding the part of her mind that had allowed her to hear those chiming crystal voices, she found another thing.

Like a switch that was turned off, Sakura discovered a strange bump in her mind. Curiously, she flicked it on.

At once, her chakra went wild, expanding in every direction. She gasped as chakra signatures popped into her Mind's Eye. And what's more, thoughts began to intrude on her mind.

With a flare of shock, she heard Azami, next door, thinking:

'… _Ran and Ken have been good today. Maybe they deserve a treat? There's a new dango shop not so far from here…' _

And across the hallway, she could hear Eiri thinking:

'… _should have known better. Kami, I need Takeshi to bounce ideas off of. But he's probably training with Sakura, so that's not an option…'_

Sakura's interest pricked. What did Eiri need to know of? Unconsciously, she drifted closer in on Eiri's thoughts, and suddenly, she was caught up in a whirl of memories.

From his memories, she found out that he was wondering about a scroll he had found in the library that morning. It was about the Rokukan's second mind.

Excitement flared up in Sakura and she hastily opened her eyes, jerking herself out of meditation. She nearly tripped in her haste to leap off of her bed, and she hurried to Eiri's door, then knocked politely.

"Come in," she heard Eiri call. What surprised her was that she still heard his thoughts, even though she wasn't meditating.

"Hello, Eiri-san," she greeted. He must have caught the look of excitement, apprehension and tension in her face, and asked:

"What's the matter, Sakura-san?"

At once, she launched into her story, telling him of her and Takeshi's discoveries. And during the whole thing, she read his thoughts on the matter even as she tried to tamp down her new ability.

Eiri was grave when she finished, his face unreadable except for a flicker of unease which she caught with her sharp eyes.

"So you can hear my thoughts?" he inquired.

She nodded.

'_Can you hear me?' _he asked.

"Hai."

Eiri shook his head in wonder.

'_What I found in the library was an old history book, written by Rokukan Hajime. He was the first of the Rokukan who found out how to tame the second mind. Anyways, he wrote something akin to a diary, and that's what this is.'_

Eiri held up an old, battered scroll which he offered to her. Sakura's eyes widened and she gingerly took the scroll from him.

'_It says something about how, if the second mind is powerful enough, it can hear the songs of the stars', _Eiri continued his speech in his mind. _'But there was no mention of the two minds combining. Although', _he pointed out the appropriate paragraph, _'there's this. Hajime said that sometimes, when the need is great, then the second mind can hook onto the main mind for a short period of time… for a high price.'_

"But my minds have been joined for… about an hour now," Sakura told him, alarm washing through her. Snapping into a shallow meditation, she frantically searched for the switch that allowed her to hear thoughts, and with a surge of fear, she switched it off.

The stream of thoughts from her family around her in the temple ceased. She sighed in relief and focused on Eiri again.

He raised a brow and said:

"Well, then maybe that indicates that your minds are powerful. But it's a bad idea all the same."

"Why?"

Eiri gave her a surprised look, one that quickly turned into fear.

"You don't know?" he asked, his voice going quiet. Suddenly, the room seemed deathly silent, and tension emanated from him.

Sakura was confused.

"Know what?" she asked, puzzled.

Eiri swallowed and his eyes darted away from hers. The silence grew thicker, and then he finally said:

"Sakura… I can't explain this. Ask Takeshi."

The pinkette blinked and asked:

"Why not, Eiri-san?"

"I am not… _allowed _to tell you."

"Hmpf. Fine." Sakura turned to leave, but Eiri's call stopped her short.

"And Sakura?"

"Hai?"

"Be careful."

XxXxX

Takeshi turned to the sound of running feet. To his surprise, Sakura burst into the library, pink hair flying.

"Ojii, Eiri told me something important!" she burst out. Quickly, she related her talk with Eiri, and all her discoveries.

Sakura was mildly shocked when Takeshi's face grew grim.

"Are your minds still joined?" he asked harshly.

"Yes. Why?" Sakura's eyes begged him to tell her.

Takeshi sighed and motioned to two chairs at a small reading table.

"Sit. This'll take a while."

When they were both seated, staring at each other, Takeshi started:

"There really have been cases when the two minds join, but only under incredible strain. And the connection is not pleasant – quite the opposite. Those who have had it happen to them had to spend the next three days in bed, paralysed.

"You show no such strain. In fact, it even seems natural. But I think I have a theory about that.

"You see, Sakura, the problems of the two minds joining only occurred when one mind was stronger than the other. It could be either of the minds – the main or the second one. In any case, the strain happens when the two minds conflict and one of them loses due to the difference in strength and power.

"Maybe your two minds are of the same strength. That has never happened before, since the second mind is usually so much more stronger in terms of raw power. Perhaps you just have a powerful main mind." Takeshi grinned wryly.

Sakura digested the information, before asking quietly:

"And hearing other people's thoughts?"

"That, at least, is normal," Takeshi told her with a touch of relief. "Although it is impressive that you pulled it off so early. I recall you told me that you have to use chakra to do so, and that is normal. Just be careful not to listen to thoughts too long, or you'll exhaust your chakra."

Sakura nodded, storing the information away, and asked:  
"Ojii… upstairs, when I was trying to get my minds to part, I heard something else. I heard these singing, light voices. What could they have been?"

Takeshi's resulting question snapped like a whip.

"Singing? Are you sure? Did they speak like humans?"

"No. They… chimed."

Takeshi's face turned from wariness, nervousness to stunned awe.

"The stars," he whispered. "Sakura, you heard the stars."

"They weren't very clear, ojii," Sakura told him. "Why is that?"

"Because it's day now. You'll hear them better when night falls." Takeshi expelled a long breath. "You're incredibly lucky to be able to hear them, Sakura. The last person to do so was a Rokukan who lived a century ago."

"Wow." Sakura didn't know what to think. Then she caught herself and asked timidly:

"Eiri also mentioned… that you need to tell me something."

Instantly, Takeshi's guard came up again. His friendly face turned into a hard mask.

"Yes, I do. But it isn't pleasant." He took a deep breath and reached up to massage his temples.

"Sakura, it's a known fact among the Rokukan. Usually, one isn't told until he or she has mastered the Second Level. But I consider you finished with Level Two, so I will tell you.

"The more you use your second mind, the sooner you will leave this world."

XxXxX

Dead silence.

Sakura stared openly at her uncle, then blurted:

"I'm… What?! I'm going to _die_?!" Inwardly, she panicked.

"No! You won't die!" Takeshi raised his hands, trying to calm her down.

"I said you'll leave this world, not that you'll die, baka!"

Sakura swallowed, forcing her muscles to unwind.

"Explain," she demanded.

"The second mind of the Rokukan is a God's Gift. I guess you could say that it belongs to the Heavens. Anyhow, the more you use it, the sooner it shall be taken away from you. I know it sounds impossible, but many of the Rokukan 'died' only because they overused the second mind. In truth, they didn't die – they merely disappeared from this world to join the heavens."

"How much is too much?" Sakura's voice trembled.

"You'll notice the pull sooner or later, and then it's just a question of time. Usually, if you start using your second mind at the age of ten, then you'll remain here for about thirty more years."

Sakura shivered and stared at her hands, watching the play of light and shadows with her hightened eyesight.

"So I'll only be around until I'm forty-five?" she inquired tensely.

"According to the rough calculations, yes. But since your minds joined, something that I have never seen occure naturally, I don't know."

Sakura thought about the whole flood of information she had learned, and asked:

"So that's why you were so worried when I told you my minds had converged."

"Exactly."

A new thought popped into Sakura's mind.

"Why couldn't Eiri-san tell me this?" she asked.

"It is tradition that only full-blood Rokukan can pass on the secret. Well, only if there's one around. Since I'm still head of the Temple, it is my responsibility to tell you of this. Later, it'll be Azami's job."

Sakura sighed, rubbing her aching forehead.

"How the hell do I part my minds again?" she muttered, more to herself than to Takeshi.

Takeshi sighed, standing.

"I don't know. You'll have to figure it out, Sakura."

"Lovely," she mumbled sarcastically, also standing.

"You should really sleep now, Sakura," her uncle told her.

"But it's only noon!" she retorted.

"Yet the mental strain has probably tired you," Takeshi countered. "Now go and get some sleep."

Holding back the childish urge to pout, Sakura turned and formed the seals for transportation back to the surface.

'_I'm not going to sleep', _she decided. _'I'll work on turning these damn senses off. They're giving me a headache.'_

XxXxX

Sakura did sleep, though.

She spent the whole afternoon trying to separate her minds, without success. Finally, frustrated and tired, she gave in to her exhaustion and fell asleep.

She dreamed of training with Takeshi, and of reading in the library. Over and over again, Takeshi's and Eiri's frightened faces flashed before her Mind's Eyes as she slept.

Her abilities had frightened them. It was clear. They were scared of what she had done.

Even though she was asleep, Sakura's brow scrunched up and she muttered a constant, quiet stream of apologies for worrying them. She rolled restlessly on her bed, until she sank into deeper sleep.

And then, she dreamt of home.

"_Oi, Sakura-chan!"_

_A bright, sunny smile greeted her. She had to smile back at the hyperactive blonde._

"_Let's go get ramen!" he suggested enthusiastically._

"_Sure," she agreed indulgently._

Sakura's sleeping form twitched on her bed. Even as she dreamt, she didn't notice that her joined mind was slowly separating, her consciousness split cleanly down the middle, her second mind reaching out.

"_I'll have the miso ramen!" Naruto shouted boisterously. Ayame, standing behind the counter, shook her head and grinned._

"_As always," the woman said. Turning to Sakura, she asked in a friendly way:  
"And what would you like?"_

"_Um… also miso."_

"_Two bowls of miso, got it." Ayame smiled and disappeared in the back to prepare the food._

Slowly, Sakura's second mind left her body completely. It drifted out of her room, out of the temple. For a mind outside, space and time didn't matter. It approached Konoha.

_The taste of miso ramen was so real. Sakura enjoyed it, though probably not half as much as Naruto did. The blonde was gulping down the noodles without chewing._

"_C'mon, Naruto, chew, not inhale," she reminded him._

"_Of course, Sakura-chan!"_

Just as she and Naruto laughed in her dream, Sakura's second mind reached Konoha.

XxXxX

Naruto jerked in surprise.

He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He had been sleeping soundly, tired out from the heavy training of Rasengan with Kakashi and Yamato. He'd returned earlier that day, and collapsed on his bed.

"S…Sakura-chan?" he asked sleepily, half-lidded eyes peering around his messy apartment.

He swore he had heard her voice, reminding him to chew and not to inhale. He had heard her laugh…

'_I was probably dreaming', _he shook his head dazedly.

Little did he know that Sakura's presence hung in his room, her second mind dwelling in the air around him.

Goose bumbs rose on his arms. He somehow _knew_ that she was watching him… but how?

"Sakura-chan, are you there?" he called, getting up. He pulled on his clothes quickly, remembering how she flipped out when she saw him in underwear.

Padding across his chaotic room, he opened the door and went into the hallway.

It was quiet and empty. Naruto's blue eyes narrowed as he felt the inexplicable feeling of Sakura watching him follow him out of his room.

He swore he heard her voice whisper:

"_I miss you, Naruto…"_

XxXxX

Sakura dreamt that she had given Naruto a hug, and said:

"_I miss you, Naruto." Sakura admitted. "When will you come back from your training?"_

"_Training? What training?" The Kyuubi container was confused._

"_The training to get Sasuke back." She told him peevishly._

Sakura's body jerked uneasily as Naruto hesitated in her dream.

"_Oh, Sasuke?" Naruto laughed, carefree, so unlike the downcast mannerism he usually had whenever someone mentioned the missing Uchiha._

"_I gave up on him, Sakura-chan," he told her. Shock jolted through her._

"_Face it, we're both too weak – and he's a bastard! I don't care about him anymore, Sakura-chan."_

Sakura sat up abruptly, breaking out of the nightmare. Her breathing came hard and fast, and she shook her head angrily.

What had she been dreaming?

When she had to strain her eyes to see what time it was, realization hit her.

Her minds had parted, leaving her senses normal once more. And her second mind was missing… no, not missing.

Her insides heaved.

Her second mind… was in Konoha. In Naruto's apartment.

'_I split my consciousness, like ojii said.' _She though numbly.

From what she felt through her second mind, Naruto was freaking out that he had heard her and couldn't see her.

A slow smile spread across her face.

She had missed him _so damn much_. And he hadn't changed at all. Warmth bloomed in her, before she wondered what she should do.

She could call her second mind back… but now that she was there, why not talk to him?

'_Wait… no. You're not allowed to reveal Rokukan secrets', _she reminded herself.

But still… it wouldn't hurt to talk just a _little_ bit to her clumsy teammate, would it?

Smiling, she closed her eyes for better concentration.

XxXxX

Naruto whipped his head around. He heard soft laughter coming from nowhere, and everywhere at the same time. He was starting to get pretty creeped out, when Sakura's voice suddenly sounded loud and clear in his head:

"_Calm down, Naruto."_

"Sakura-chan?"

"_Yes, now please don't get all hysterical and run around screaming, or I swear I'll leave right now."_

"Leave? But you're not even here!" Naruto was, once again, confused.

Sakura sighed, remembering belatedly that Naruto could be rather dense sometimes.

"_I'll explain when we meet again."_

"You mean when you come back from your secret mission?" Naruto inquired, blue eyes lighting up. He sauntered over to his sofa and plopped down onto it.

"… _Um, yeah. Anyways, don't tell __**anybody**__ about this, okay? Not Kaka-sensei, or Yamato-taichou, or Sai. Nobody. Please?"_

"Sure, Sakura-chan, if that's what you want…" Naruto trailed off, clueless. He didn't get what she meant.

"_And if you do tell anybody…" _Naruto cringed when he heard the echo of knuckles cracking. _"Then I swear I'll punch you right through the goddamn Hokage mountain. Clear?"_

"Hai, Sakura-chan!" Naruto squeaked, well and trule cowed.

Her tone softened.

"_Thanks, Naruto."_

Even though the blonde was still confused and rather cowed by Sakura's promise of violence, he grinned at nobody in particular in his empty apartment and said:

"I'll always be there for you, Sakura-chan! Dattebayo!"

XxXxX

The next day found Sakura up bright and early. Ever since she had spoken with Naruto the night before, a restless longing to return home plagued her.

Takeshi greeted her as she entered the social room, handing her a steaming cup of tea. He noticed her absent expression as she thanked him mechanically, seating herself at the table.

"Sakura?" he asked. She turned towards him slowly, blinking, as if she'd woken from a trance.

"Did you manage to split your minds?"

"Oh… yes, I did, actually. While I was sleeping."

Something in her voice told him that she was withholding information.

"What happened?" he asked. Her eyes flickered uneasily before she deadpanned:

"Happened? Nothing happened."

Takeshi sighed and said patiently:

"Sakura, you seem to be rather restless. What happened?"

The pinkette huffed a breath out in defeat and said:

"While I was asleep, my minds parted and split my consciousness too. And then… well, my second mind went to Konoha and visited my teammate."

Takeshi raised an eyebrow.

"You were really sleeping?" he inquired. At her nod, he said:

"That's actually normal. Rokukan with second minds are known to have accidentally searched for people in their sleep. It needs a powerful mind to do so, but we already know that both of your minds are strong."

Sakura gave him a small smile at the compliment, then asked:  
"But how was it possible to stretch all the way to Konoha from here?"

"It's your second mind, silly. Space and time, and things like material and limits don't exist for thoughts. And you were able to move there so quickly because you're travelling by the speed of thought. Really, it's a _mind_. It's _thoughts_."

Sakura nodded, satisfied with the answer.

"But what did you do there, with your teammate? Did you talk to him?" Takeshi tensed as he voiced his concerns.

"Yes, I did. But you can trust him, ojii. He won't tell anybody." Sakura fiddled with a strand of her candy pink hair, summoning her courage, before saying quietly:

"Takeshi… I miss him. I miss Konoha."

Her uncle supressed a grin and asked:  
"Your teammate… are you…?"

Sakura's cheeks burned red as she got what he was asking.

"No, of course not! I just miss my team, and him, as a friend!"

Takeshi chuckled, but then fell silent with a thoughtful look on his face. Silence stretched between them, and then he finally said:

"Sakura… you want to go back, don't you?"

The pink haired medic gulped and nodded hesitantly. Would her uncle be mad? What if he threw a fit? Okay, granted, it was unlikely for him, but who knew what he would do?

But Takeshi only sighed and leaned back in his seat. His next words were so unexpected, Sakura had to do a double-take.

"When are you leaving?" he asked.

As she stared blankly at him, he grinned.

"Did you think I'd chain you here?" Takeshi asked, than said playfully:

"I'm insulted that you thought so, Sakura."

She smiled, relief flooding her, and said:

"I won't leave right away, ojii. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Sure, tomorrow," he nodded.

Sakura's whole face lit up with a beam. Before she realized it, she had launched herself out of her seat, nearly knocking over her cup of tea, and flung her arms around Takeshi in a hug.

"Thanks sooo much, ojii!" she nearly squealed.

He laughed and patted her back awkwardly.

"You should inquire if your teammates are in Konoha, Sakura. It would be kind of stupid if they were sent on a mission when you arrive. Also, you should inform the Godaime Hokage that you're returning home."

_Returning home. _Sakura relished the words, repeating them over and over in her head.

Takeshi stood, gently removing himself from her strangehold, and said:

"We won't train today. You should take it easy and farewell the others."

"Of course," she replied.

"And when you reach Konoha, don't forget to train. I have given you all the theory you can hold, and now you have to make use of it."

"Hai!"

XxXxX

Sakura visited Eiri first, who was in the social room. He was worried about her joint minds, but she reassured him that they were normal once more.

For a while, they just sat side by side on the comfortable cushions on the floor, then Sakura said:

"Eiri-san, I'm leaving tomorrow."

"So soon? Why?" he asked, seemingly startled.

Sakura grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head and admitted:

"I miss Konoha too much."

Eiri smiled and said:  
"That's nothing to be ashamed of, Sakura. Even I miss Konoha every now and then." He got up, surprising Sakura, and added:  
"If you're leaving, then I want to give you something."

Her curiosity awakened, the pinkette followed him out as they transported themselves back to the surface.

Eiri entered his room, and began rummaging in his closet while Sakura watched curiously. Finally, with a triumphant smiled, Eiri pulled out a hanger with black clothes on them.

"Here, try these on," he told her.

Sakura took the hanger from him and examined the clothes.

It was a black, short-sleeved shirt like the one she had, except that silver linings decorated the hem, neckline and seams. On the back, a four-pointed silver star like the ones used as compasses was beautifully embroidered. There was a matching pair of black shorts, again with the silver star, and a long black cloak lined with silver on the inside.

Sakura stared at the items, then at Eiri.

"Thank you, Eiri-san," she said warmly, "but what does this star mean?"

Eiri laughed and answered:

"That is the Rokukan Clan symbol." His mirth faded and he said quietly:

"These used to belong to my mother."

Sakura tilted her head, noting the dark bitterness that crept into Eiri's eyes, and asked softly:  
"What happened to her?"

"She was murdered, along with my father, by an unknown rogue shinobi with an orange mask, so I heard. I wasn't there when it happened."

"Oh." Sakura looked at the clothes, then, trying to lighten the mood, said:

"It should fit me; I'm pretty small and so are these."

It worked. Eiri cracked a smile and said:  
"My mother was petite. She wasn't a Rokukan, but she was a genjutsu master."

Sakura grinned and mused:  
"There's a jounin in Konoha who also exceeds at genjutsu. Her name's Kurenai, and she's the sensei of three of my friends."

Eiri smiled back at her, and urged:

"Please try them on."

"Sure thing!" Sakura dashed back to her room and quickly pulled off her standard Haruno outfit, her skin tingling. She couldn't wait to see how it was to wear her father's Clan's symbol.

She slipped into the clothes, noting that it was a little too wide at the hips, but that wasn't too bad. She could fix that.

Donning the black cloak as well, snapping the silver star-shaped clasp at her throat shut, she collapsed the hood around her neck and then turned to gaze at herself in the mirror.

Her breath caught.

The clothes gave off an intent, purposeful air. Looking at herself, she seemed older, more confidant. And the black and silver matched nicely with the high heeled nin-sandals that she, Tsunade and Shizune wore.

'… _Holy shit', _she thought. Giggling, she added, _'I look like one of those bad guys in the ninja cartoons.' _Sakura had seen plenty of the cartoons that civilians made about ninjas. It was pretty amusing, to say the least. Did they really think that ninja could fight brutal battles without a break for a week? Or somehow magically stay alive for forever?

Shaking her head, she exited her room and went back to Eiri's.

His eyes widened at the sight of her, and he smiled:

"It fits you."

"Yep," she grinned. Bowing from the waist, she said:  
"Thank you so much, Eiri-san! I'll make sure to keep these safe!"

Eiri's eyes softened and he nodded, answering:

"Now you can go into the world among shinobi, and everyone will see your heritage. Don't be ashamed of it, whatever you do, for to know and respect yourself is to know and respect the world."

XxXxX

After Sakura said goodbye to Eiri, she visited Azami and the twins. She watched as the two boys' eyes grew round and wide as saucers and they unleashed a storm of questions:

"Why are you going, itoko?"

"Were we that bad, Sakura-chan?"

"Where will you go?"

"Can we come?"

"We'll behave!"

"Do you ha—"

"ENOUGH!" Azami shut them both up, gazing at them sternly with a hand over each mouth.

"Let Sakura talk, would you?" she scolded them.

Sakura laughed so hard she cried.

"I'm going back to Konoha, boys," she said between giggles. "And no, it's not because you two. I just miss my home, that's all! And I don't think you can come with me."

"Too true," Azami grinned, smacking her half-brothers playfully. To Sakura, she asked:

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow."

Azami stood, releasing the twins, and said:

"I'll be right back!" and dashed away.

Sakura's brows furrowed and she asked the boys:  
"Where's she going?"

They chuckled and exchanged mysterious glances before chorusing:  
"You'll see, Sakura-chan! It's a surprise!"

'_Wow. More presents', _she concluded.

Azami came back a few moments later, carrying a medium sized scroll. Handing it to Sakura, she said with a cheerful smile:  
"I figured with your monster strength, you could use this."

Curious, Sakura unfurled the scroll and looked at the inky words written on it.

It was a storing scroll, specifically for weapons. That in itself was already pretty expensive, plus she saw that from the ten slots, one was already occupied.

"There's something in here already?" she asked, fascinated.

"Yep. Go ahead and summon it!" Azami urged.

Biting her thumb quickly, she smeared blood on the appropriate slot and ordered:

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

With a bang and a poof of smoke, a huge axe appeared. She caught it as it spun through the air, amazed.

It was about as big as she was, and heavy. But as she dipped into her chakra, it seemed to get lighter and she swung it easily back and forth.

"Oh my god, thanks!" she managed to say.

Azami grinned and pulled her into a glomp, careful not to hit the blade of the axe.

As she pulled away, she pointed at the handle, which had Sakura's name in pink kanji stitched into the black leather.

"I figured you'd want to personalize it," she teased. "So I did it for you."

Sakura laughed and, with a handsign, released the axe, storing it once more.

"Thanks again, it's really awesome," she grinned.

Ran and Ken bounced up and down in different rhythms, their red-orange heads bobbing excitedly.

"Will you use it a lot?"

"Me'n Ran helped look for it in the shop!"

"You'll look so cool, Sakura-chan, with the monster chopper flying around like a feather!"

The pinkette laughed at them and patted their heads.

"I'll use it," she promised.

Satisfied, the two boys let her leave, and Azami winked at her as she left.

'_Kami, I love my family', _she thought.

XxXxX

**A/N**

God, I am so annoyed! I wanted to put this chapter up on the 20th of March, but Fanfiction had some problems and it didn't work! AARGH!

I hope that this chapter was interesting, even though it was rather confusing in the beginning. And if you have any questions, you can always ask. It's not like I'll bite, _ne?_

And thank you so much for the awesome reviews! It really motivates me to keep going!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Dattebayo! – Believe it! (if you don't know that one, then learn it! Naruto uses it 24/7)

Kuchiyose no Jutsu – Summoning Technique


	6. Chapter 6

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_Giving was her natural ability – but now she would have to take._

XxXxX

**Chapter 6**

Kakashi scrutinized the Hokage carefully.

She looked tense, he observed, and worried. He chose his words with care, knowing out of not-so-pleasant past experiences that Tsunade was not to be messed with when she was already upset.

"What is it, Hokage-sama?" he inquired respectfully.

She hesitated, her sharp eyes looking him over, then said bluntly:  
"I am sending you as the captain of a squad to capture Uchiha Sasuke."

The silence after her announcement was thunderous.

Kakashi's lone eye widened before he could stop it, and he asked:  
"He was sighted? Does Naruto know?"

"Yes, he was sighted, and no, Naruto doesn't know anything about it," the Godaime replied.

Kakashi took a moment to compose himself, then asked:  
"Who will be in the squad?  
"Yamato, Sai, you, Naruto, and Team Kurenai. It's unfortunate that Sakura isn't here as well, but I've sent her a carrier hawk with the location of your mission. She might catch up to you in time."

The copy nin's mind raced. If he managed to catch Sasuke, would it be possible to bring the revenge-obsessed Uchiha back without any casualties?

Tsunade watched the resolve in Kakashi's eyes form, and she asked formally:

"Do you, Hatake Kakashi, accept this mission?"

He returned her piercing gaze, and replied gravely:  
"Yes, I do."

XxXxX

Loud knocking interrupted Sakura's packing.

She looked up curiously as he uncle entered, and her curiosity quickly turned into concern as she saw his tight expression. She also noticed the hawk perched on his wrist.

"What is it?" she asked immediately.

Takeshi shifted uncomfortably and replied quietly:  
"Your teammates won't be in Konoha when you return. The Hokage sent me a message that they, along with Team Kurenai, will be out on a mission to capture Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura's mind went blank. For a couple of seconds, all she could do was stare stupidly at her uncle and think:

'_Sasuke's been sighted?'_

"W… Wait," her voice came out in a combination of a whisper and stuttering. "Kaka-sensei and Naruto are going to go catch Sasuke?" Her alarm turned into anger. "And they're going _without_ me?!"

Takeshi held up a hand, warning her to shut up because there was more.

"The Godaime Hokage has requested that you meet up with them at the rendezvous point. And you are to depart immediately."

Sakura leapt to her feet, emerald eyes blazing.

"Of course! I'm almost finished already!"

She dashed through her room, dumping her items unceremoniously into her pack, before breezing through the bathroom and emptying it as well.

"I'm done!" she announced five seconds later.

Takeshi blinked, startled, and said:  
"A…Aa. Okay. I'll escort you to the gate."

They exited the Temple, and Sakura's stomach clenched with excitement, adrenaline, and apprehension.

'_This is it', _she thought, swallowing, _'if we bring Sasuke back now, then maybe we can help him…' _

The gates came into view, and Sakura halted. Turning, she gazed back at the Rokukan Temple.

The building had grown so familiar to her now. It truly was home, if not in the same way as Konoha. It was the sanctuary that her family had used for years, and it still embodied that sign of safety.

She would miss it.

Sakura glanced at Takeshi and whispered softly:  
"I'm sorry if it appears as if I were eager to leave. In truth, it's the opposite – I will really, really miss the Temple. I'll miss all of you."

Takeshi smiled and ruffled her hair.

"Nobody can blame you for going to help your teammate," he pointed out calmly. Sakura heard a trembling note in his even voice, though, and knew that he was trying not to show his downcast mood.

"I'll come back some day, ojii," Sakura promised.

He smiled.

"May that day come soon, then," he answered.

The gates opened from the inside without any blood sacrifice. Sakura watched the wings of the two halves swing open, and her insides knotted. She tried to swallow unsuccessfully, and said the dreaded words:  
"Sayonara, ojii."

She didn't turn to look at him, fearing what expression he might be wearing.

"Sayonara, Sakura…"

XxXxX

She didn't stop to rest the rest of the day and the following one, too. Her determination urged her onwards, even when her legs screamed their exhaustion at her. However, she was forced to stop and rest when she nearly fell off a tree because she'd fallen asleep for two seconds while in mid-jump.

Her hands automatically built a bonfire, and she deftly lit a small fire with a Katon no jutsu. She wasn't fire type naturally, but she could handle minor scale jutsus from all five types of chakra.

Sakura scanned her chakra levels and frowned. Her break-neck pace had lowered her chakra to about a third of her normal reserves.

As she watched the flames crack and dance in the ring of stones, she spontaneously decided to check the area.

'_But I don't want to get up…' _she thought woefully. _'My legs hurt…'_

She knew she was making excuses – a shot of her chakra could easily heal the burning pain in her tired legs. She told herself that she had to save chakra.

But what if she had practically no chakra at all, yet still had to check her safety?

Her thoughts flashed to her second mind.

She pulled out the memories of having a split consciousness, and, with their help, managed to crack her consciousness into rough halves. Leaving one half in her main mind, she transferred the second to her other mind.

Carefully, she let her second mind out of the confines of her body.

It flared, expanding. Sakura had no clue how far it could expand, so she just let it and watched as it grew bigger and bigger.

She was ready to let her jaw drop onto the ground when her mind just kept going, steadily growing slower, but still getting larger. She already had a distance of about ten miles in every direction, and still, its procession didn't halt.

She noticed with a bit of a shock that she could feel every living being under her second mind. The brilliant sparks of life emitted beautiful, warm feelings in her.

Most of the sparks came from animals, but she also felt a group of civilian travellers about a mile away from her in the north. She felt the steady, weak beats of their undeveloped chakra, and the glow from their life sources.

Curiosity itched at her. Who were the travellers?

Near the group of civilians, she found a small robin. Concentrating on him, she suddenly felt his life-force blaze in close-up mode in front of her Inner Eye.

"_Hello,"_ she greeted him politely.

The robin cocked his head – he'd never heard such a strange person like her.

"_Can you do me a favour?" _she asked him.

He wasn't sure if he'd be able to do so, but agreed to hear her out.

"_I'd like to see who those people are. They're very close to where you are."_

The robin didn't understand; how would she be able to see the travellers if he went to look? She wasn't him, so she wouldn't catch a single glimpse of them.

"_That's what I wanted to ask you about. I can enter your mind and see what you see."_

Would it hurt? the robin wanted to know.

Sakura had to giggle, the mental laugh echoing in the robin's head.

"_No, it won't. I'll just squish in beside you."_

The robin decided that it couldn't do any harm, and consented.

Sakura's gratitude flowed through him, and she concentrated even harder on him. She had already located his thoughts – now she'd have to enter them.

In a manner similar to exiting her own body, Sakura managed to slip into the robin's. One second she was still hovering in the air for miles around her body, then with a _plop_ she was in the robin's mind.

The robin felt her, but she didn't hurt him in any way.

"_Can you fly to the travellers?" _she asked him.

He could, and spread his wings. He took off, with Sakura inside his mind with him.

It was a curious sensation. She'd never done anything like this before. She could feel the robin's body, could feel his wings beating in the air as if they were her own. Together, she and the robin corrected their direction, using their tail to turn slightly. They headed towards the travellers, and landed on a branch with calculated precision.

Now Sakura could see the travellers.

They were ordinary civilians, she observed. Huddled around a campfire, they talked casually amongst themselves. She guessed that it was a family.

"… but those bloody ninja always come in anyways," the man, presumably the father, growled.

"I really don't see what's your problem, tou-san," a girl remarked. She looked to be around fifteen, and was glaring at her father.

"The ninja never hurt us; all they do is buy supplies whenever they pass through our village."

"Yes, but as soon as a war comes up between them, who gets killed first? The ordinary, normal folk like us."

"You should both calm down," the woman, probably the mother, soothed. "The ninja are only human, like the rest of us. They've just got different training than we have."

"You only say that because your father was a shinobi," the man said to her. "But you have to admit that ninjas are brutal. They _enjoy _murdering honest people."

Sakura, listening from inside the robin's mind, bristled with outrage. But that outrage sank away quickly as she realized that for a lot of ninjas, this was correct. Nonetheless, she couldn't help wanting to voice her objection, causing the robin to shrill a protest on her behalf.

The robin was shocked that she had made his body respond when he hadn't told it to.

"_Sorry, sorry," _she quickly apologized. _"I didn't mean to make you do that."_

But the harm was already done: the family looked up to see the bird perched over their heads.

"Is it just me, or is that bird _listening_ to us?" the girl whispered.

"Nonsense!" the father snapped. "Birds can't understand what we're saying!"

This time, the robin screeched on its own accord.

Now it was Sakura's turn to be shocked. Really, the robin couldn't understand the human languages, so how had he understood what the man had said?

Realization dawned a second later.

Since she was sharing the mind with the robin, and _she_ understood what was being said, her comprehension flowed over to the robin as well.

"_Kami-sama…" _she whispered.

The robin felt immensely proud – he'd never understood what humans had been blabbering before. He'd always assumed that the strange sounds that humans made were some sort of language, but he hadn't made any sense of them.

The family was shocked.

"Did that robin just… yell at us?" the girl stuttered.

Hastily bidding the bird goodbye, Sakura fled from his mind. She raced back to her own body in a heartbeat, diving into her own skull with relief.

Blinking to focus her eyes, she felt her heartbeat drumming erratically in her chest.

"What the hell…!" she mumbled.

So, it seemed that she really could enter animal minds, like Takeshi had told her once a long time ago. And it also seemed like the animals could understand the human language after being in contact to her.

She shivered and smiled at the same time. It was both good and bad, she decided. The robin had learned the human tongue – he'd be able to understand it from now on.

'_As long as he can't talk', _she shuddered at the chaos she could construct if she left a trail of talking animals behind her.

Spreading her bedroll out next to the fire, she sprawled on her back.

She scowled.

Looking into the night sky reminded her of her _other_ new ability.

Stars winked at her mischievously. Like hard, bright diamonds glittering on a velvet black background, they beckoned her to them.

Her gaze was drawn to them almost magnetically, and without stopping to think, she plunged into her second mind.

She first had to connect her two minds together. How was she going to manage that without Takeshi around to make her panic.

Sakura scrunched up her eyes, mouth thinning, and focused on trying to squish her two minds together. They resisted, slipping through the breaks in her concentration and evading control.

'_Come on!' _she mentally growled.

With the feeling of giving way, they sloshed together into a single bright mind.

Rushing to the corner in the back of her mind that controlled the ability to hear the stars, she delved deeper into the yet unknown chasms of her being.

Nearly at once, she heard the bright, chiming crystal voices.

"… _must be protected." _One voice was just finishing. There was a beat of silence, before another one started:

"_Hush, somebody is here."_

Sakura's heart leaped within her ribcage. They knew she was listening?

At that one star's words, the other stars bridled and one of them hissed:

"_Who's there? Who comes before us?"_

The deep aggression in those words was magnified by the cold, sharp notes of the stars' language.

Sakura froze. How could she tell them that she was a friend? Mind racing, she cried:

"_It's me, Haru – no, Rokukan Sakura!"_

They appeared to have not heard her, and a steady hiss was rising from the group of stars. Alarmed, Sakura threw her entire strength into her thoughts and screamed:

"_IT'S JUST ME! I'M ROKUKAN SAKURA!"_

This time, they seemed to get the message. They relaxed, and one star said:

"_Rokukan Sakura, please forgive our hostility. With so many strangers poking into our realm, one cannot be sure who is friend or foe."_

"_Oh," _an idea popped into Sakura's head. _"But I thought only the Rokukan can hear you?"_

"_That is sadly untrue. There are others who partake in our words."_

"_Who?" _Sakura had to know.

Several stars chorused:

"_Uchiha Madara."_

"_What?" _Sakura did a double take at the name. _"Uchiha Madara – isn't he long dead?" _She had heard of an Uchiha Madara who had helped found Konoha.

"_No, he isn't. And the gods curse him for enduring year after year!" _one star spat.

"_But how can he hear you?" _Sakura pressed.

"_We do not know. And that is what bothers us." _A star told her.

Sakura's mental words wavered slightly as she asked:

"_What does he ask of you?"_

"_He chooses to remain silent and just eavesdrop on us," _one of the stars snorted in disgust.

"_What did he hear? Please, I need to know!" _Sakura begged.

"_He heard of the new Bridge, Rokukan-san," _several stars said at the same time. She detected a note of fear in their crystal voices.

"_Bridge?" _the pinkette inquired, confused.

A star chuckled, the pure notes of its laughter running through her mind like droplets of water.

"_Do you not know?" _it asked her.

"_The Bridge is you."_

XxXxX

Shock disrupted Sakura's concentration for a long moment. She lost contact to the stars a couple of second long, before hastening to hear them again.

Finally, after she recovered, she shouted:

"_Me? He knows of me now?" _Her mind spun uncomfortably.

"_Why me? And why am I a Bridge?"_

All of the stars except for one fell silent. That one star explained patiently:

"_Long have stars been in contact with Rokukan members. Those who have mastered their gift __**and**__ speak to us are called Bridges, since they are a bridge between humankind and the heavens."_

"_I see," _Sakura muttered. She did not like hearing that somebody called Uchiha Madara – who was _supposedly_ long dead – now knew that she was a Rokukan. She trusted Tsunade with the knowledge of her real bloodline, but some total stranger searching for her gave her the heebie-jeebies.

"_Are you sure that he is Uchiha Madara?" _she asked. Her mental voice sounded half-strangled.

"_We know everyone by name, Rokukan-san," _all the stars chorused. _"We watch, and we listen. We have seen everybody since the day they were born. We witnessed the dawn of the world, and the first rise of the sun."_

Their chiming voices blew through Sakura's mind like a gust of cold wind. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

This couldn't be real. The presences she was talking to had been at the beginning of the world, or so they said.

She shivered and gasped:

"_I… I have to go."_

"_Too bad. Well, we will talk to you again sometime, Rokukan Sakura," _one star said.

"_A… Aa, I guess…" _Sakura stuttered, fleeing out of that corner of her mind that connected her to the stars and splitting her two minds apart at the same time.

Their voices broke off immediately, and she buried her face in her hands.

'_I have nothing against my new kekkai genkai', _she thought, _'but I have to admit that it's freaking me out.' _

Sakura shuddered and peeked between her fingers up at the night sky. The stars twinkled brightly, ominously, against the dark heavens.

"Kami-sama, help me," she whispered.

XxXxX

"Fuck you, you friggin' rain!" Sakura shouted.

She had woken up the next morning at the slosh of water on her face. Cursing the cloudburst, she snatched her soaked gear and made a mad dash for the trees. Sadly, said trees didn't provide much shelter from the waterfall-like downpour.

"Trying to gang up with wind as well, are we?" she shrieked pointlessly against the howling storm front that threatened to knock her head over heels if she didn't have chakra gluing her to the tree branches.

"Dammit!"

She jumped off of the branch and soared through the air. Pulling back an arm glowing with chakra, she cried:

"Shannaro!" and punched the ground with only a small fraction of her monster strength.

The ground split into jagged domes of earth and stone with a loud groan. Sakura hopped to the shelter that two protruding slabs of rock gave, and used her chakra to punch out a small cave for herself.

It was a relief to be out of the rain and wind. Since she still had low chakra, she allowed herself to rest up a bit and glanced around at the hollow she had made. The pinkette wanted to check her surroundings for any possible enemies – her chakra enhanced punch was _not _silent and could have attracted other nins – but she didn't want to use her second mind. She had used it enough for now, and she was still spooked by all the recent happenings.

'_I'll just use chakra', _she decided.

So she flared her chakra.

Sakura froze.

Fanning her soothing green energy outwards, she contacted a fading trace of _extremely _familiar chakra.

'_Sasuke…?'_

Focusing on the nearly non-existent trail, she decided that, yes, it was definitely Sasuke's.

It was quite possible, she realized. She was close to the village where the Uchiha had been sighted.

Her heartbeat quickened even as she tried slowing it, thinking:

'_Okay, concentrate! What do I do next?'_

Her first impulse was to race after the fading trail, but that was foolishness. It was raining heavily, and she wasn't in the best condition for a fight with her low chakra. So, the best thing was to simply go and find the Konoha teams in the village.

Even as her head made rational choices, she balked. She wanted to go and find Sasuke right friggin' now!

Memories flashed through her, stopping her short. The last two times she had been overconfident, Sasuke had gotten away. Both times. And she had been left on a bench the first time, and nearly impaled the second. She had to be careful and remain logical even though her heart ached.

'_Rushing in headfirst will get me killed', _she conceded reluctantly.

Grimacing, she pulled up the hood on her new cloak, baring the Rokukan Clan symbol and jumped back out into the rain. Her cloak shed the water drops pretty well, and she travelled as quickly as possible towards the village.

XxXxX

Rain.

Sasuke glared at the sky.

He could hear his teams breathing hard behind him as he raced through the trees. They were coming up to a village where he had heard some rumours of an Akatsuki base nearby. He had every intention of scouring the village for any of those criminals. If any of the Akatsuki members were there, he could try and press information on Itachi out of them.

"Sasuke-kun!" Karin suddenly shrilled.

He glanced back, giving her a wordless consent to talk.

"There's a kunoichi running behind us – but her levels are really low," the redhead reported.

"Hn. Just keep going," Sasuke ordered.

He had expected them to continue travelling in silence, but Suigetsu piped up:

"Say, only one kunoichi? And she's following us?"

"Yes," Karin snapped at the water nin. "I said so, didn't I?"

Suigetsu whistled.

"That kunoichi's got some guts, then," he drawled.

"She is of no concern," Sasuke said tonelessly. "She cannot catch up to us if her chakra is low."

Team Hebi fell silent, and only the sound of the rain could be heard.

XxXxX

Sakura blinked with shock.

It had only been for a fleeting second, but she thought she had felt Sasuke's chakra.

'_If I didn't imagine that, then he's really close', _she realized, her breath quickening.

She cursed the fact that her chakra was low. She would never be able to catch up to a quartet of ninja with their full reserves of chakra in her condition.

But what should she do? They were heading for the same village as she was. She would have to stay overnight in an inn, and there was a chance – however slim – that Sasuke and his team would be next door or even in the same building.

"Dammit," she growled.

One way to ensure that she was as far as possible from them was to spy on where they were staying. But that was impossible; she was just too slow right now.

Another way was to simply not enter the village, but she was supposed to meet her fellow Konoha ninjas on there. And it was her duty as a Lead kunoichi to at least keep an eye on a nuke nin if she herself was unable to catch him.

So, she could only continue towards the village.

To be on the safe side, she performed a simple transformation. Forming the correct seals, she ordered:

"Henge!"

She winced as a sizeable amount of chakra left her system. She had layered her transformation – a trick that Tsunade had taught her – so that it would hold while she slept.

Glancing into a puddle, she examined her handiwork.

Her eyes were still green, but a lot darker. Her hair was pitch black and fell all the way to her hips. Deftly, she pinned it into a single, long braid that draped over one shoulder. The shape of her face wasn't changed, but that didn't bother her. She looked different enough already.

Continuing towards the village, she did her best not to think about what would happen if something went wrong. Instead, she focused on where she would find the other Konoha nins.

'_Tsunade-sama didn't send ojii any specific meeting point', _she remembered. She would have to waste some time looking for them.

XxXxX

Half an hour later, when the sun was starting to set, she reached the village.

Crouching on a tree branch, she observed the peaceful civilian haven. Her heart squeezed at the sight of the deceiving serene atmosphere. Somewhere among those quiet houses was a nuke nin, a heartless killer and traitor.

Her fists clenched.

'_First things first', _she decided. _'Go in and play innocent. Then, find the most unlikely place for him to be, and stay there until tomorrow.'_

She sucked in a deep breath, loosening her fists, and jumped off of the branch. She approached the gates.

There was a pair of ordinary civilian watchmen. She gave them a nod, which they returned. Since she was not a hostile ninja, she had to show them that she meant them no harm and was hiding no secrets.

Masking her chakra, she entered the village and she looked around.

'_Now, where would Sasuke never stay?' _she asked herself.

Her gaze zeroed in on a small, unsteady looking inn.

When she walked into the cramped, dirty reception room, she relaxed. She would never find the proud, disdainful Uchiha in a little place like this.

"A room for the night, please," she told the man behind the counter.

He gave a strange look and said:

"Ye don't really wanna stay here alone, miss. It ain't a good idea."

"If it's a good idea or not is my business," she answered flatly. "I can take care of myself."

The man took in her short, petite stature, long black braid and purposeful green eyes and shrugged.

"Whateva, it's your skin. Don't go pinning anything on me, ye don't," he warned,

"Sure, that's all I was asking," she accepted the key he gave her.

Climbing up the stairs, she would have gotten a nasty surprise had she not been a ninja.

A man had been hiding around the corner, and he stepped into her path with a greasy smile.

"Who are you, pretty little miss?" he asked her, honey and sugar dripping from his tongue.

Sakura gave him a 'don't fuck with me' look and drawled:

"Piss off."

She attempted to push past him, but a hand snaked around her hips, pulling her to him and he purred:

"How about we have some fun?"

"How about we _don't?_" she growled. When he showed no sign of retracting his hand, her patience snapped and she did the job for him.

Her chakra enhanced punch threw him across the down the hallway. He flew through the air before smashing into the wall, knocking loose a mini avalanche of plaster and mortar bits.

As he cried out in pain, Sakura marched onwards another floor upwards.

Only when she stood in front of her door, her irritation cooling, did she realize what she had done.

'_Fuck!'_

To use monster strength, she would have had to gather chakra in her hand. That meant that she had unmasked her chakra for a brief second. Also, her enhanced punches required a huge burst of energy, which was like flaring a beacon for any other ninjas to see.

If Sasuke had been anywhere moderately close by ninja standards, it would be impossible for him to miss a flash of chakra being released.

'_Oh shit', _she thought grimly.

XxXxX

**A/N**

This is the shortest chapter I've written so far, but so much happened that it would be wrong to cram in more.

I'm so happy that I can update once more! *does victory dance* Now I can keep the chapters coming without any problem. Well, maybe not quite, since I have a huge history exam coming up…

Got any questions? Just ask me, and I'll see if I can answer them. :)

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Sayonara – Goodbye, or Farewell

Henge! – Transformation!


	7. Chapter 7

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_What is living without life?_

XxXxX

**Chapter 7**

Sasuke's head snapped up, eyes narrowing.

He had just sent out Suigetsu to gather information in the village. Knowing the ex-Mist nin, he'd probably extract any clues violently.

But that wasn't what bothered him.

The Uchiha swore that he had felt a very familiar chakra flare up in a momentary blaze before disappearing again. From the high level of chakra being released, it must have been a jutsu.

And what was even more interesting… the chakra had most definitely been Sakura's.

Indecision itched in his mind and he could not seem to get rid of it. Should he avoid her? Or confront her?

Sasuke felt tension curl in his stomach. The last time he'd seen the pink haired kunoichi was with her team, along with his replacement. And he hadn't talked to her for… oh, ages.

Part of him whispered that if he killed her, than he would finally get the Mangekyou Sharingan. But another part argued that he shouldn't seek power the same way his brother had.

Plus… he had to admit that he didn't really want to kill his pink haired ex-teammate.

But he was curious; what had caused her to perform a jutsu inside a civilian village? Was she attacking somebody?

Blank black eyes gazed in the direction of the signature.

He teetered a moment on a mental brink of indecision, before abruptly deciding not to investigate. He knew that Karin was also somewhere in the village, and he would let her deal with any disturbance. Sasuke was not stupid; Konoha most likely was tracking him for a while now. He just couldn't stay in one place for very long.

He also reasoned that he could deal with any Konoha nin anyways. He knew most of their weaknesses and strengths, since he'd been one of them before. Granted, they had probably grown, but certainly not as much as he had.

And with that, he let the matter of Sakura's presence slip into the back of his mind.

XxXxX

'_Calm down, Sakura!' _the pinkette ordered herself. _'Think!'_

Her mind raced. It was highly probably that Sasuke had sensed her – now what? She could hardly run from him, nor could she just stay here.

"Damn it!" she hissed.

She paced her room, eyes flashing to her pack. She had nothing to help her if her ex-teammate would attack. Sure, she had taken her weapons, and she had the huge axe from Azami and the twins, but what help would it be if she didn't have her monster strength.

'_Kami, this is the last time I'm travelling without soldier pills!' _she swore.

She checked and rechecked her henge, making sure that she still had black hair and very dark green eyes.

She agitatedly pulled on her black braid and decided:

'_Fine, I'll have to pretend to be a civilian, which means getting as far away as possible from this inn. This place will probably be checked by Sasuke, since he felt my chakra from here.'_

Sakura grabbed her pack and, leaving a tip on her bed, jumped out of the window, landing on the small roof outside.

She ran along the tops of the houses, senses alert for any danger. She dropped to the streets after a while, hyper-aware of her surroundings. She hated this feeling, this uneasiness when she didn't know where her enemy was.

It was now almost midnight, and the moon hung in a gray cloudbank, illuminating the village streets with soft silver light. The moonbeams struck the Rokukan symbols on her cloak, making them glow.

She quickly pulled her hood up as well, hiding her face deep in the shadows of her cowl. Transformation was pretty secure, but it couldn't hurt to be cautious.

Leaping onto the wall, she slipped past the guards without any problem. Sakura headed towards the forest, hoping to camp out in the woods until the next day.

She heaved a sigh of relief when she entered the shadows of the trees. Now at least she had a sporting chance at hiding from the Uchiha runaway.

She travelled deep into the forest, but not too far away from the village. Stopping in a small clearing, she was too nervous to camp on the ground. It wouldn't make a difference for a ninja, but she just felt safer if she would sleep on a branch.

The medic nin hung her pack from a higher branch, then stretched out on a particularly wide bough. But she couldn't go to sleep, not yet. Adrenaline was still tingling in her veins, and her heart pounded with her tension.

'_I'll never get any sleep this way', _she groused.

XxXxX

Karin arrived at a run-down inn and walked up the walls. The redhead had felt a chakra signature flare before being masked again, and she was naturally suspicious.

Finding an open window, she climbed into the room, a kunai in hand.

The room was empty.

Her suspicions hardened as she saw the untouched covers with a wad of cash on the pillow. Somebody had left in a hurry.

The kunoichi closed her eyes, her hand automatically forming the seals of her unique tracking ability. Perhaps she would be able to find the former occupant of this room.

'_Could it be the kunoichi from before who was following us?' _she wondered.

It took all her concentration to find the weak trail of chakra lingering in the room, but once she found it, tracking it was a piece of cake.

The ninja had jumped out the window and run straight out of the village, heading into the forest. And there, Karin felt it. The cool green chakra was spiking in miniature waves that only the redhead could sense.

Frowning, she focused harder.

The chakra was very low.

So it was really the kunoichi from before. What was she doing here, following Team Hebi around? It could only mean two things: either it was a coincidence, or it was a ninja sent specifically after one of the members of Team Hebi.

Most likely the latter option.

Karin broadened her range, testing the area for any other shinobi. There was something, also in the forests, but what…

Her eyes flew open in shock.

'_Fuck', _she thought, alarmed.

She had sensed Uchiha Itachi.

XxXxX

Sakura was damning chakra depletion to the fiery pits of hell. She was lying on her back on the branch, wishing desperately for more chakra.

She kept getting flashes of foreign chakra around her, but without any energy of her own, she couldn't find out exactly who was tracking her. Hell, she couldn't even feel the chakra very well.

'_God hates me', _she thought.

Closing her eyes, she tried to focus on her surroundings to maybe lull her into sleep.

Instead, her sad amount of chakra brushed something. A something that was a signature.

She jerked upright, eyes opening in alarm and disbelief.

That chakra… it felt almost like Sasuke's. But totally not like Sasuke's at the same time. It was deeper, darker, swirling with the weight of experience.

It could only mean one thing. Sakura's body trembled with fear.

'_I've got to get out of here!' _she screamed in her mind. Grabbing her pack, she was just about to leap off of the branch when the chakra flared into existence behind her in the smoke of a transportation jutsu.

'_It's not a clone this time', _she realized immediately. Exhausted and without chakra she may be, but her chakra sense was fine-tuned and could pick out the smallest flaws in the best clones.

Sadly, that meant that she could tell with almost 100 percent certainty that standing before her was the one and only Uchiha Itachi.

Whirling around, she gave a small yelp of surprise when a dozen shuriken bored into the wood at her feet. There was another cluster coming straight at her face, and she didn't have enough time to find her balance and then dodge.

She let herself drop to the ground, twisting in mid-air to land on her feet.

It still hurt.

Without chakra to dampen the landing, shock waves travelled up her legs and jarred her knees. She bit back a curse and looked for her attacker.

Her breath caught.

A dark figure stood perched on a tree branch, looking down at her. Even from here, she could see the cool, deep red eyes.

'_Kami help me', _she prayed.

Her throat was dry and her voice came out in a chocked gasp:

"Uchiha Itachi…"

Now she really was doomed. She may have had a sporting chance against Sasuke, but definitely not against his brother.

She averted her eyes immediately, but pulled herself up straight and proud. She was going to die here, but she wouldn't go without a fight.

Her only warning was a nearly inaudible _whoosh _of the air currents reversing their paths as Itachi flash-stepped onto the ground and paced towards her slowly.

He didn't say a word, he merely observed her.

He was a little bit surprised to find a Konoha ninja out here. Especially this one. If memory served, then she was the little kunoichi who had once been in Sasuke's team. What was she doing here without any teammates?

He examined her, noting several differences from the time he had met her team and the Suna Elder that one time.

Last time, she had worn a clan symbol that was very different from this one. And she had grown a little bit, her stance was more controlled and more watchful.

'_Sasuke hasn't been the only one training', _he concluded.

Sakura, on her part, was as taught and tense as a strung bow. She needed to buy herself some more time!

With that in mind, she screamed out the first thing that came to mind concerning Sasuke.

"You can't leave Sasuke-kun alone, can you? You just enjoy torturing him, right?" She even added the suffix to her ex-teammate's name.

Itachi merely raised an eyebrow.

She was stalling, he could tell. She could act very well, but with his Sharingan, he had picked out the smallest of flashes in her eyes as she lied.

Sakura watched with despair as the Uchiha didn't seem to buy her act, so she decided that she would take the next step.

'_I've got my second mind', _she also remembered. _'With the new techniques, I have a wide assortment…'_

Of course, combining her minds would be the best option. But she didn't have enough time to concentrate on that, so she would have to go with using a little bit of chakra in the Kan Jutsus.

Her hands came up, and she flung her cloak around her to conceal her hands, remembering Kakashi's lessons in Sharingan.

"_If you perform any seals before the Sharingan, then hide your hands,"_ he'd said.

Itachi watched with amusement as the black cloak fanned out around her, hiding her from view. She was well informed, but he could take advantage of her shield.

In a flash, he was right behind her, arm upraised. The kunai glinted in his hand, and he was about to bring it down on her shoulder when she finished her seals.

"Tenjutsu: Shikaku!" she ordered frantically.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as she whipped around, hair flying, to face the kunai.

'_Now!'_

She flash stepped back as quickly as possible, but couldn't avoid the blade completely.

The kunai sliced down into her right shoulder, cutting neatly through her flesh all the way to the bone. She let out a gasp, flipping backwards, eyes darting towards his. The hood of her cloak had been cut off, and fluttered to the ground.

Green chakra gathered automatically to heal herself, but she forcefully stopped the process. She couldn't afford to use any chakra for her wound.

But at least her jutsu was responding correctly; she could see Itachi's field of vision. It wasn't yellow like normal eyesight, but red.

It took a bit of effort, but she spread her diminished chakra out towards him, and, with a push, blocked the red hue. Immediately, the crimson field turned yellow.

She grinned, staring directly at him, and said smugly:

"Prepare yourself."

With that, her hands slid through a series of seals, not even attempting to hide from him.

Itachi froze.

What was happening? He couldn't read her handsigns! Narrowing his eyes, he realized with a jolt that he couldn't see her chakra anymore.

For the first time in years, unease and confusion washed through him.  
But he was a top-class ninja, and was used to thinking quickly in tough situations. Even though he hated to, he did the one thing he hadn't done since he was twelve.

He retreated.

Sakura's eyes widened, astonished, as Itachi disappeared within a blink of the eye. Upping her tempo, she finished her seals and ordered:

"Tenjutsu: Choukaku!"

There, that was it. She didn't have enough chakra for any more jutsus. But she could hear Itachi moving nearly silently through the tree branches, so her chakra had been worth it.

With a shrill cry, she snatched a dozen shuriken from her pouch and flung them towards the nuke-nin.

Itachi dodged them by reflex and simple grace, but he was still stunned. He hadn't been able to read the kunoichi's movements in advance, and had avoided her missiles narrowly. He definitely didn't like this – by this point, the fight was turning into a serious one. Without his dojutsu intact – he still didn't know why – the battle could drag on and on. And things could get even worse: If Sasuke found him, then his plan would be disrupted.

Therefore, Itachi decided to confront the kunoichi in a taijutsu battle. Even though he couldn't predict her movements didn't mean that he had superior speed.

Leaping from his cover, he nearly got brained by the little kunoichi's fist. Weak chakra leaked off of her hands, but he knew that the small amount was enough to snap his neck.

Sakura swallowed as Itachi attacked her. His speed was so much faster than Takeshi's, and she was still tired.

She settled into the rhythm of taijutsu.

Itachi aimed a kick at her ribs, and she slid back, hands glowing with chakra ready to catch his limb. But she miscalculated and ended up missing. She blocked his next blow with her forearm, jarring her body, and heaved him back before aiming a punch at his jaw.

He dodged it smoothly and tried to trip her. She heard it just in time by the nearly inaudible rustling of his cloak. Sakura leaped high into the air to avoid him, then soared down with a fist outstretched.

Itachi just let her come, only stepping aside in the last second.

'_Huh, men! Always showing off!' _she snorted to herself.

Undeterred, she continued her swing and hit the ground with a dull _thud_.

The ground only shook a little, a pathetic imitation of her monster strength. But a distraction was all she needed, and when her opponent faltered for a split second, she lunged forwards, her chakra flickering into scalpels on her fingertips.

She jabbed her hand out towards his knees, but he gracefully leaped over her and kicked her right between the shoulder blades. She hadn't even seen him move, but as she went sprawling across the ground, she flicked a formation of senbon from her holster towards him.

They didn't do much damage – Itachi simple let the needles embed themselves in the large sleeves of his cloak where they couldn't harm him.

Sakura was on her feet by then, and didn't expect the sudden fireball that burst into existence.

"Katon! Gokakyuu no Jutsu!"

She cursed the size of the fireball – she couldn't just dodge it, there wasn't enough time. So she just let herself fall flat on her back as it passed overhead. She knew she had a mere second afterwards to recover after the fireball was over.

As soon as she could, she leaped to her feet, but it was too late.

A solid, hard body slammed into her, knocking the breath from her lungs. She fought the urge to spit up the blood that was leaking from her tongue where she had bitten it, and tried to rise. Large hands stopped her escape plan, one of them pinning her wrists together and the other one holding a kunai at her throat.

Itachi stared down at the kunoichi he held pinned. She was breathing hard, her eyes blazing with anger and frustration at him.

Itachi's Sharingan spun, bringing her into a genjutsu world. Sakura hung by her wrists, which were chained to a large slab of cold rock. The sky wheeled with crows, and Itachi was standing before her.

"Don't fight it, kunoichi," he advised her.

"Like hell!" she growled, trying to move.

Itachi drew closer, and he asked:

"How were you able to block the Sharingan?"

Sakura set her jaw and just glared at him mutinously. She wasn't going to answer!

The Uchiha narrowed his eyes, and he repeated:

"You will answer me. What did you do?"

When she still didn't reply, he adjusted the genjutsu slightly.

An ice cold blade soared out of no where, heading straight towards her. Her eyes widened in panic before it plunged into her stomach.

She screamed at the feel of the burning, freezing sensation of the blade boring a hole into her body. Another few blades flew towards her, pinning her hands and feet.

She gritted her teeth against the pain. Pain she could take, she told herself. This was a test, and she was determined to win.

"Answer me!" Itachi commanded, his voice darkening.

"No!"

Another blade, this time in her shoulder.

Itachi took the last steps forwards, coming to a halt directly before her. His red eyes were truly frightening – her breathing inched towards hyperventilation.

"I know that that was not a simple jutsu, kunoichi," he warned her. "There is not technique in the world that can stop the Sharingan, so what did you do?"

The Uchiha was genuinely curious, he had to admit. He wanted to factor in everything that could cause a problem in his carefully laid out plans, and she was most definitely a problem.

She struggled with an answer, about to reply when he gave a grunt of impatience and muttered:

"Weak."

Sakura's eyes flared with anger. The pain stabbed her drove deeper than any physical wound. And it made her lose her head.

"Why should I tell you?" she shrieked with sudden fury. "It's not like the Uchiha ever told any secrets!"

Her anger only increased as Itachi continued to watch her impassively.

"You and your _damn_ little brother!" she seethed. "You think that because you have your stupid eyes, you're superior! Well, tell you what, jerk, that Mangekyou is _not _the centre of the universe, baka!"

She choked on her last word as Itachi's hand slammed into her throat.

"What did you say?" he hissed.

He was livid. How could she know of the Mangekyou? Nobody knew of that! Had somebody broken into the Uchiha compound and found the secret meeting room? No, that was impossible.

But the how did she know?

He had to find out.

The tomoes in his eyes spun, then bled into the Mangekyou's form.

"Since you know so much of the Mangekyou," he said evenly, "I will show you of its power."

Suddenly, she was in a completely different situation. She was still chained to the rock, but now dozens of Itachi's clones stood around her, each wielding a black blade.

Tsukuyomi.

Kakashi had described this to her.

One of the clones drew back his arm, and stabbed her right in the heart.

She screamed as she felt it pierce her life's core. Even though she knew that it was not real, she couldn't hold back her next screams as the other clones copied the first one. It _felt_ so _real_.

Enraged by the pain and her earlier anger, she slipped into her second mind. With a snap, her minds joined easily under the pressure, and she launched a counter attack on Itachi's mind.

Her mental blow struck Itachi full on. He only had one moment to realize that his Tsukiyomi was going horribly wrong before he was sent reeling through his own mind, cancelling the advanced genjutsu.

Memories flashed before his eyes, and to his alarm he saw the pink haired kunoichi rifling through them even as he did. Her eyes were opening wide in shock as she beheld his childhood experiences, his dark secret…

Sakura's mind went into overdrive. She saw the multiple scenes play before her own eyes as if she were watching from Itachi's point of view.

The Council and Hokage ordering him to kill his Clan. The screams and pleas for mercy as he slaughtered his family, his friends. His parents' wide, lifeless eyes as they slumped to the floor in a mess of congealed blood.

Sasuke's wide, terrified eyes.

That last image snapped something within her.

Sakura's mouth opened in horror and an ear-splitting shriek burst from her. She screamed and screamed, living Itachi's life as a murderer, as a hateful criminal.

And he hadn't even deserved it.

For the safety of her own sanity, her second mind rebelled, shutting her system down. The illusion dispelled, and her mind shot out of Itachi's head into her own.

There, Sakura collapsed in a heap, her vision funnelling.

The last thing she saw was Itachi standing over her. His eyes were wide and his mouth open in a soundless breath of astonishment.

And then blackness overtook her and she fainted.

XxXxX

To say that Itachi was shocked would be an understatement. He was absolutely stunned.

His secret had been uncovered – by a pink haired girl. What she had done…

Itachi stared at the unconscious girl. The sun was just beginning to rise, bringing a new day – they had fought through the night.

He'd have to talk to her. The truth was already revealed, and now he had to make sure she wouldn't tell anybody, least of all Sasuke.

Warily, he moved towards her and gently picked her up. The wound on her shoulder was bleeding heavily – he'd have to bind that as soon as possible. She was heavier than her slender form seemed to suggest, he noted. That probably came from having muscles, not fat.

He slung her over one of his shoulders, then deftly formed a few seals for a transportation jutsu.

With a burst of black crows, he and Sakura disappeared.

XxXxX

"Alright, each of you will have two of my summons," Kakashi explained. His gaze swept the hard, determined faces of his combined team and he continued:

"If you find anything, then return here. This is our meeting point."

His single eye clouded with worry as he added:

"I haven't sensed Sakura anywhere in the area, so if you see her, tell her to join you until we meet back here again."

The dog summons chose their partners, making random, joking comments in their rough, barking voices.

"What about me?" Naruto demanded.

"Since you're Akatsuki's target, you'll have Hinata, Yamato and Buru to accompany you."

Pakkun, perched on the copy ninja's head, added:

"Buru has a loud voice, and he can call for us over great distances."

"Okay?" Kakashi gave the group one last, measuring look before saying:

"Then let's go!"

XxXxX

Team Hebi were gathered in a small clearing. Sasuke's eyes swept over them and he ordered:

"Tell me anything you found."

Suigetsu and Juugo could only supply him with minimal information. Rumours of the Akatsuki bases, and a random sighting of Itachi and Kisame which probably wasn't true.

Karin was unusually silent, her eyes uneasily darting back and forth.

Finally, Sasuke rounded on her.

"And?" he asked harshly.

"… I felt the kunoichi from before," she started. "But nothing more." She bit her lip.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously and he said:

"You're lying. Tell me, or I'll force it from you."

Karin swallowed, meeting his gaze for a fleeting second before confessing:

"Itachi was in the forest around here."

Sasuke froze at the mention of his brother.

Itachi, here? And Karin had tried to keep it from him?

"Split up!" he snapped. "Search the area – if you find Itachi or any clues, teleport back to our meeting point and contact me."  
He handed a scroll to Suigetsu as well, ordering:

"You know what to do."

Suigetsu nodded, and he and Juugo took off in a flash.

Karin, meanwhile, hung back, reluctant to go. She could tell that Sasuke wasn't pleased with her, but she had been waiting for this chance for so long…

"Sasuke-kun…" she purred, hanging on his arm. He stiffened even before she continued:

"Let's go together, ne? Without those two idiots around…"

"Leave," he said flatly. His tone was cold and even, and Karin hastily backed away with a snort of frustration and disappointment.

Sasuke didn't even bother leap through the trees – he ran on the ground at high speed, searching for any trace of his aniki.

As he entered a large clearing, he stopped short.

Itachi's chakra hung around the area like a heavy blanket, but underneath it…

Sasuke automatically reached for his katana.

He could sense Sakura's chakra underneath the menacing, dark aura of Itachi's chakra.

It was very obvious. Sakura and his brother had run into each other and had fought.

Was she dead, then? His eyes swept the clearing, but didn't see her anywhere. She wasn't anywhere in the area, either, he noted. To his irritation, a prickle of relief ran spiked inside of him.

But… he paused, his eyes settling on a scrap of dark cloth. He went over to it and picked it up.

It was the hood of some sort of cloak. It was black had neatly embroidered on it was a four pointed silver star.

Sasuke had no clue what it meant; he shoved it into a pouch at his side and was just about to continue searching when he sensed a poorly masked chakra signature hiding behind a tree.

"Come out, I know you're there," he said coolly.

The figure that stepped forth made him tense. That black cloak with red clouds…

"You're Akatsuki," he stated flatly.

"And you're Sasuke-kun, ne?" the man responded. His voice was high and child-like and he continued as he walked forwards:

"You look a lot like Itachi-kun!"

Sasuke jerked involuntarily, his gaze sharpening into a cold, dark glare.

"S-S-S-_Scary_!" the Akatsuki member yelped, speeding backwards and nearly tripping.

Looking at the dark hole in the man's mask, Sasuke wondered if the man wasn't really in the Akatsuki. Anybody could sew a black robe with red clouds… That organisation didn't recruit idiots – but an idiot this man surely was.

Distracted by his thoughts, he nearly missed the shadow closing in on him. In the last second, his head jerked up just as two speedy, streamlined clay birds impacted the ground next to him.

"Katsu!" a new, foreign male voice ordered.

The birds exploded.

Sasuke had anticipated the explosion a fraction of a second earlier, and had summoned a large snake to counter the shockwaves. Sure, the snake got burned, but he was fine.

The new arrival gave him a sour grin when he saw that Sasuke had survived. His hair was blonde and long, tied into a ponytail on top of his head. A strange contraption was strapped onto his left eye, and when he raised his hands, Sasuke saw that there were mouths on his palms.

"Look at the nice glare he's giving us, Tobi!" the man grinned.

"He's most definitely Itachi's otouto! Damn brat thinks he's all great just because of his cursed blood. He was able to defeat Orochimaru with those fucking eyes."

That was too much. Sasuke engaged the man in a staring competition, before abruptly speeding towards him, drawing his sword at the same time.

The battle had begun already.

XxXxX

Sakura's first impression as she came around was that she was warm and comfortable. She struggled to remember anything from before, but couldn't think of it.

'_I just want to sleep some more…' _she thought drowsily.

Turning over, she snuggled deeply into the soft blankets that she was wrapped in. As she did so, her side brushed against a warm, hard chest.

Her eyes snapped open and she jolted upright, letting out a scream that was muffled quickly by a large hand.

She cross-eyed to see the hand, and froze.

The nails were painted with dark colour, and she spotted a ring.

Sakura shivered as she looked from the hand to its owner. Automatically, she reached for her chakra, which had, to her relief, replenished itself until she had half of her reserves.

Her gaze met deep red.

Itachi.

"Relax, I won't do anything," his deep voice sounded from next to her.

She shut her eyes tightly, willing herself to wake up from the nightmare. When nothing happened, she breathed:

"And I should believe you?"

"You have my word."

'_Huh, Uchiha Itachi's word', _she snorted inwardly. _'Huzzah.'_

"What do you want from me," she asked, her voice muffled by his hand. She was seriously considering biting his palm, but thought better of it.

"I want to talk with you."

"…" Sakura scrunched up her brow, trying to remember.

And then it hit her.

Memories poured through her brain, and she stiffened. _'That's right!' _she shuddered. _'The truth of the Uchiha Massacre!'_

"Why didn't you ever tell Sasuke?" she asked, her voice shaking. "And can you please take your hand away?"

He didn't answer her first question, but complied with the second one, his hand freeing her mouth, letting her turn towards him. As she did, her shoulder twinged and she looked down at it.

Somebody had bandaged it professionally, as well as if she had done it.

Looking up at Itachi, she asked quietly:

"Did you…?"

He nodded once curtly.

"Uh, well… thanks," she said uncertainly.

Now a tiny smirk lifted one corner of his lips. His gaze met hers, crimson with the Sharingan, and he said:

"Haruno-san, what I want to talk about will take time. And since neither of us has much to spare, I suggest that I use Tsukuyomi on you."

"But –!" she started to protest.

"It'll use less time, Haruno-san."

"Fine…" she agreed, swallowing.

The next moment, she found herself sitting among lush green grass in a meadow that spread endlessly around her in every direction. She blinked with surprise. Who knew that Tsukuyomi could be made into something pleasant?

"Haruno-san…" Itachi's voice came from behind her.

She turned quickly, finding the Uchiha sitting cross-legged near her.

"To answer your earlier question: I did not show Sasuke because it would be quite possible for him to turn against Konoha."

His words struck her with the weight of a hammer and her eyes widened disbelievingly.

"He wouldn't!" she protested immediately.

"My foolish little brother does not always have the best of judgement, kunoichi."

"But… But… Sasuke wouldn't. He just… wouldn't do something like that." She automatically argued. But even to her, her words sounded hollow.

"You know that's not true, Haruno-san."

"Can you please drop the 'Haruno-san'?" Sakura griped unexpectedly. "It makes me feel like I'm on a shift in the hospital."

Itachi smirked again, a miniscule lift of his lips.

"If you wish, Sakura. Now, as I was saying: Sasuke is _not _to hear a word about this, understood? There are many reasons why, and trust me, I thought them all through long ago when I was ordered to complete that particular mission."

Sakura shuddered.

"And there really isn't any other way?" she persisted. "Do you really want to die at Sasuke's hand?"

"Yes." There was finality in Itachi's voice.

"But you don't deserve this!" Enemy or no, Sakura was starting to feel a flood of sympathy for the elder Uchiha brother. In his mind, she had seen what he really was like – a kind, compassionate man who had acted for the sake of peace. And even if he had done some things that she didn't like, he was still a good person in truth.

Itachi raised an eyebrow.

"And who would have filled in my position otherwise?" he challenged her. "Think, kunoichi – how many shinobi can take on the whole Uchiha Clan?"

She knew that he was right, but she couldn't help muttering:

"This is just _so _wrong."

He didn't answer, and she continued:

"So… if I were to keep this a secret from Sasuke, what would be accomplished by that? Do you really want to truth to be forgotten?"

"That is how it should be, Sakura."

She shook her head dazedly.

"No," she resisted the urge to pout.

Silence descended between them, before Itachi quietly inquired:

"But I would like to know something."

"What is it?"

"What is Sasuke to you? What is your relationship?"

That stung. Sakura glared at the grass, folding her hands in her lap to keep them from trembling.

"I had a huge crush on him," she admitted shame-faced. "I trailed after him and got on his nerves the whole time. He always had to protect me, him and Naruto… I was so weak."

Raising her head to look at Itachi, she added:

"But now… I don't know. He…" she swallowed. "He tried kill Naruto when we last met. And I'm sure he would have run me through, too."

Itachi's gaze hardened.

"_Foolish _otouto…" he muttered.

"Why?" she asked him.

"He should count himself lucky to have acquaintances."

"Not me," she laughed bitterly. "I'm just a block of wood dragging on his leg."

"Not anymore."

Itachi's short disagreement brought her up short. She gave him a questioning look.

"You blocked the Sharingan," he mentioned. "That is quite a great feat, kunoichi. I won't force you to tell me, since I assume that it is a Clan's Secret Technique."

"Aa," she admitted.

Itachi nodded and stood, gazing down at her.

"That is all," he decided. "But you must promise me that you will not tell anybody unless the knowledge somehow puts Sasuke in danger."

"I promise," she mumbled.

The next moment, the genjutsu had been cancelled and she was sitting in the bed again. She squinted at the blankets and asked warily:

"How long was I out?"

"Only three hours."

"And… sorry, but why were you in the bed with… me…?"

Itachi's deep chuckled surprised her and she looked at him with scarlet cheeks.

"Were you afraid I'd molest you?" he smirked.

For a second, Sakura stared wildly. Itachi looked so much like Sasuke with that damnable smirk that they shared. Then she shook her head to clear it and said:

"I couldn't be sure…"

Itachi shrugged, then said quietly:  
"I am actually glad to have talked with somebody… But now the time has come for us to part. I will transport you back to the clearing you were in, Sakura, but remember your promise. If you reveal the truth to anybody, there will be disastrous consequences… from the secret and from me."

She shivered. Even though she and Itachi had been talking familiarly seconds ago, she knew that Itachi would carry out his threat.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she muttered:

"Sasuke doesn't deserve you, either."

The world around her spun as Itachi suddenly pulled her up, his hand securely holding her chin to make her face him. She blinked at the sudden proximity.

"I'd say the same thing for you, Sakura," his deep, warm tenor said seriously.

She blushed, her gaze darting aside. With her eyes directed somewhere else, she didn't see his lips lift into a genuine smile.

Itachi wished he could somehow spend some more time with the Konoha kunoichi. She was interesting, he could tell, but he knew that her real place was not by his side.

'_Maybe Sasuke…' _he allowed himself to hope.

With that thought, he drew back and formed some seals at lightning speed.

"Take care of Sasuke," he told her. "He will appreciate you one day."

Her gaze lit on his, surprised, and he completed the seals and laid a hand on her head.

She only had a second to note the smile on his face before everything vanished in a burst of smoke. She gasped his name, wanting explanations, but he was already gone.

As the smoke around her cleared, she cursed stupid Uchihas and their cryptic remarks. She swatted her hands around, trying to clear the air, and strained to see beyond the curtain of smoke.

What met her gaze was not what she expected. She was standing behind a tree trunk, partially hidden.

Sasuke.

Her eyes wandered away from her former teammate, and her breath caught.

Two Akatsuki members were fighting him. Actually, one of them had just been sliced cleanly into two pieces and was face-planting into the dirt. The other one, a disturbingly familiar blonde, was leaping into the trees.

Deidara.

"One down," came Sasuke cool, smooth baritone, and Sakura trembled at hearing it. It seemed only yesterday she had heard it in the training grounds of Konoha.

"Since you seem to like talking, I'll ask you." Sasuke continued. "Where is Itachi?"

Deidara didn't bother answering, instead began yelling at his partner 'Tobi', as said man rose to his feet.

Sakura didn't understand. Tobi had just been cleaved in half. How was he still alive?

She couldn't see Sasuke's expression from over here, but she guessed that he was just as surprised.

"Tobi, get back!" came Deidara's voice. His hands plunged into the pouches strapped to his sides and in the next moment, he was throwing a handful of bombs towards Sasuke, and, unfortunately, towards her as well.

'_Dammit!' _she thought, taking cover behind the large tree. She waited for the resulting explosion, but there was none. Just as she peeked around the tree, a bomb went off, nearly throwing her off her feet.

She cursed.

She couldn't just leave Sasuke to the Akatsuki members. Ex-teammate and traitor he may be, but he was _Sasuke_. She had no desire to see him killed.

'_I… I…' _she gritted her teeth.

She should leave and find the Konoha nins and report Sasuke's location. That's what Sakura the responsible Leaf ninja would do.

But…

Sakura, the human girl with a big heart, just couldn't leave her former teammate to die, or at least get severely wounded.

The two personalities clashed fiercely. She struggled to decide on which path to take, and reasons and arguments flickered through her brain. Then, her eyes slid shut as one side lost.

She remained in that slumped position for a second, then abruptly opened her eyes. The green in her gaze had hardened with determination, as bright and sharp as emeralds.

She had made up her mind.

With a battle-cry, she launched herself from behind the tree, fist raised. The man named Tobi hadn't sensed her, she was sure of that, and she targeted him with deadly intent.

She had decided. And with that, she had sealed her fate.

XxXxX

**A/N**

Sorry for the late update! But this chapter is extra long to compensate for that. :) Hope you liked the Itachi/Sakura bonding time, but sorry ItaSaku fans – they won't become a couple.

So, what do you thinks gonna happen with Sakura interfering in the Deidara-Sasuke battle? Will Tobi a.k.a. Madara discover her identity? I look forward to reading your theories.

Oh, and one more thing: It might be confusing with Sakura's mind abilities. Therefore, I decided to make a quiz on the Rokukan Jutsus. The answers will come in the beginning of the next chapter!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Katon! Gokakyuu no Jutsu! – Fire Style! Grand Fireball Technique!

Katsu! –Deidara's trademark explosion command

Otouto – little brother

XxXxX

Rokukan Quiz!

Always one answer is correct, two are false.

1. What happens when a Rokukan splits his or her consciousness?

a) You can send out both minds, leaving the body empty.

b) You can move your body while your second mind is 'outside'.

c) You can think of two different things at the same time.

2. What is special about Sakura's two minds?

a) They are powerful.

b) They are powerful and she can hear the stars with her second mind alone.

c) They are powerful and she can join them together.

3. Does she still have an Inner?

a) Yes.

b) No.

c) Sometimes.

4. When she joins her minds, she can:

a) hear people's thoughts with the aid of chakra, increase her taijutsu skills, and also enter minds.

b) hear people's thoughts with the aid of chakra, activate all five senses without chakra, and also hear the stars and enter minds.

c) activate all five senses with the aid of chakra, hear people's thoughts without chakra, and hear the stars.

5. To record a kekkai genkai in the Rokukan Temple, you have to:

a) give up your second mind.

b) speak out loud and record it in somebody else's second mind.

c) break off a small piece of your own second mind.

6. Normally, if you join your minds, what happens?

a) You die.

b) You are paralysed for three days.

c) You lose your second mind.

7. What happens at the overuse of your second mind?

a) You vanish from earth, recalled to the heavens by the gods.

b) The stars take away your second mind.

c) Nothing.

8. Sakura visited Naruto in her sleep. Is this normal?

a) No, absolutely not.

b) Yes.

c) Only if you can join your minds.

9. How come her mind was able to travel the distance so fast?

a) By the speed of thought.

b) By a special time-space ninjutsu.

c) By Sakura's special two minds.

10. Can a Rokukan enter multiple minds simultaneously?

a) No.

b) Yes, but only if you don't split your consciousness.

c) Yes, if you don't split your consciousness, you can enter even more minds.

Well, that's it! Remember your answers – write them down somewhere or something like that – and I'll have the answers in the next chapter. So… yeah, until next chapter!

XxXxX


	8. Chapter 8

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_He found that he could not justify his actions – therefore, he played blind._

XxXxX

**A/N**

Hey everybody!

Like promised, here are the answers to the quiz in the last chapter. I will not explain the answers; the number of the chapter where it is explained will be included.

1b (Chapter 4), 2c (Chapter 4/5), 3b (Chapter 3), 4b (Chapter 5/6), 5c (Chapter 4), 6b (Chapter 5), 7a (Chapter 5), 8b (Chapter 5), 9a (Chapter 5), 10c (Chapter 4)

So, there you have it, folks! Even though I do appreciate your questions and like answering them, I don't think it is necessary to start bombarding me with 'where exactly in the chapters the explanation is' for the quiz. So, please don't be lazy and go look yourselves. In the meanwhile: Onwards to Chapter 8! Enjoy!

XxXxX

**Chapter 8**

Tsunade glared at the paper, and it seemed to glare right back at her with malicious glee.

She was the Hokage, dammit, and that meant that she was the 'strongest ninja' in the village. But for the love of sake, nobody ever mentioned all the paperwork attached to the title!

The Godaime was ready to scream with frustration when a knock sounded on her door. Normally, she would get pissed at being interrupted, but today anything that gave her an excuse to stop her paperwork was welcome.

Although, she didn't expect who came in.

"Jiraiya!" she exclaimed, standing up. Shizune came trailing in as well with a rather small armful of papers which seemed tiny compared to the usual amount.

The toad sage grinned and greeted her in his normal boisterous tone:

"Nice to see you, Tsunade-chan! The great man they call Jiraiya-sama has arrived to save the day!"

"Wha—! You idiot! Why are you here?" she snapped at him, a vein popping into existence on her forehead.

Jiraiya sweatdropped as his former teammate cracked her knuckles threateningly and decided to go straight to the point. His face sobered immediately, and Tsunade frowned in confusion. Jiraiya was almost never serious, and when he was, then he was _dead_ serious.

"Tsunade, I know where the leader of the Akatsuki is," he told her gravely.

"What! Where? Who? Why didn't you say so?!" Tsunade told herself that she hadn't yelped with surprise, and her eyes widened with complete shock.

Then,

"Where is he?" she demanded, her face darkening when Jiraiya stayed mute.

"Come on, out with it!" she threatened.

"Hey, hey!" he raised his hands. "How about we talk over a drink?"

Lightning bolts exploded from her and she pointed at him with a chakra infused finger, screaming:

"Idiot! As Hokage I can't drink on duty! It would be a disappointment to all of the Konoha citizens!"

XxXxX

Half an hour later, the Godaime Hokage was well on her way to getting absolutely and completely drunk.

Giggling madly, she wiped her mouth and set down her empty bottle of sake, staring at Jiraiya with glazed eyes.

"Tsunade, you really should hold your own word," the toad sage smiled, shaking his head. "After all, you're the Hokage."

"Right, right," Tsunade sighed, snapping out of her hysterical giggles. "Now, where is the leader of the Akatsuki?"

"In Amegakure."

Jiraiya's answer surprised her. She frowned, brows scrunching, as she asked:  
"In that little village? Why would he be there?"

Her former teammate closed his eyes and said heavily:  
"I think I know who he is… but I want to ask if I can go alone."

"What?!" Tsunade shot up straight in her seat. "You've got to be crazy! You'll die, Jiraiya!"

Jiraiya pulled a brave face, and replied:  
"Hey, a small thing like death won't stand between me and you, Tsunade-chan!"

"Idiot," she muttered out of habit. "Are you sure, though?" A part of her heart squeezed nervously at the thought of him dying out there, in Amegakure.

"Of course I'm sure." He grinned. "I'm Jiraiya-sama, remember?"

Tsunade sighed heavily, and then whispered:

"Be careful, I don't want anything to happen to you.

"Aw… will you cry for me? Probably not as much as for Dan, though," he snickered half-seriously.

"Idiot," she repeated, and turned her face away.

Jiraiya felt bad for teasing her, and said solemnly:

"Well, you can always bet that I won't come back. You always lose your bets, remember?"

A tiny, tiny smile lifted the corners of her lips. Trust Jiraiya to make her feel better. She glanced at him, her eyes worried.

"Be careful," she whispered. She had never known how much he had meant to her.

"I will," Jiraiya nodded to her, a gentle smile on his face, and then he burst out of existence in a cloud of smoke.

Neither of them knew that he was never coming back again.

XxXxX

'_What…?' _Sakura blinked rapidly, just to make sure that her eyes weren't tricking her.

She had swept out of the trees and hit the Tobi guy right smack in the middle of his back. It was a square a hit she had ever made, and should have at the very least snapped his spine into millions of bone fragments. Instead, she had continued in a wide arc _straight through him_ and punched the ground with enough force to create a gigantic crater about fifty yards across.

Both Deidara and Sasuke jerked in surprise, wheeling around to stare at her.

Sasuke's eyes widened, and his stunned red eyes met confused and puzzled green ones as Sakura swung around and looked at him.

For a long moment, they just stared, both forgetting the danger they were in.

Sasuke's mind was having trouble processing the image before him.

_This_… was Sakura? Haruno Sakura? The girl who had always been weak and frightened had just punched a hole into solid earth and rock?

He blinked once, slowly, and she snapped out of her trance, avoiding his eyes.

Sakura swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat. The Uchiha looked even better than the last time she'd seen him, but she couldn't concentrate on that now. Whatever jutsu that Tobi guy had used was new to her, and she had no idea how to respond accordingly to such a technique.

Her mind replayed the scene where she had flown straight through the Akatsuki member, and she concluded:

'_Physical attacks won't work on him. He'll just become insubstantial and let everything through his body. So that leaves…'_

"Sakura."

That voice. _That voice. _It brought her up short, and her gaze slowly slid to the side to see Sasuke still staring at her, his face emotionless and blank.

"What are you doing here?"

She hastily searched for words, when Deidara interrupted loudly:

"Omae! You're Haruno Sakura? To hell with you!"

Sakura jerked to look at the blonde Akatsuki, and she couldn't hold back a grin.

"Nice to meet you again, Deidara," she greeted him. "Like your new partner? Or was Sasori-no-Danna better than this lollipop man?"

"You bitch! You killed Sasori-san, little brat!" he snarled back at her.

Her grin broadened.

Sasuke, meanwhile, glanced back and forth with mild confusion. Sakura had killed an Akatsuki member? That was a bewildering thought.

As she and Deidara spoke, he scanned her, taking in several new things.

The cloak that she wore was black, and had silver symbols embroidered on her back, shorts, and shirt. There was silver lining around the cuffs and hems, and she wore a pair of black gloves. And… the hood of the cloak had been messily but off.

His breath caught.

So it had been Sakura's hood he had found! He fought the urge to take the hood from his pocket, instead fixing his intimidating glare on Deidara.

"What are you doing here, Sakura?" he asked again, not taking his eyes off of the Akatsuki member.

She snorted at his arrogant, cool tone and retorted:

"That's hardly any of your business, Sasuke, but if it makes you feel any better I can tell you that I'm not gonna attack you. I'm after these Akatsuki dudes too, thank you very much."

Sasuke tensed, stunned. She had never refused him an answer before. Where was the silly, blubbering fangirl? Well, obviously gone.

Sakura nearly grinned as a flicker of emotion flashed over his gaze. He was startled, she could tell, and all she could add was:

"Of course, if you decide to kill me, then I might just have to fight you, too."

At that, Sasuke just shook his head a fraction and grunted:

"Hn."

So arrogant.

Sakura's face hardened as she looked back to Deidara, and Tobi, who was shivering. What was wrong with that masked man? He was acting like a child.

"Sasuke," she suggested, "How about I take out that Tobi? I could—"

"Annoying."

She bristled with anger. "Excuse me?"

"Don't interfere," he answered in that same, even tone.

"Fine," she mock-pouted. "We'll see if I heal you after you break all your bones, idiot. And you could have asked if I had intel on them, you know."

Sasuke fought the urge to groan. It seemed that Sakura's talkativeness hadn't vanished – it had only turned into the iron hard planes of sharp sarcasm and wit.

The pinkette clucked her tongue in reproach at him, then leaped into the trees. She decided that she really would just watch and not do anything – she would do exactly as he said and not help even if he was about to get his brains spread across the ground.

Well, the little brain that he did have in any case.

XxXxX

Sasuke eyed the enormous clay dragon that was soaring right above his head. His chidori blade hadn't worked – Deidara was out of his range. And the bombs that kept getting aimed at him were guided missiles, nearly impossible to dodge.

He also discovered that there were mines underfoot when he stood on one, nearly blowing himself into the air.

Watching with narrowed eyes as the man named Tobi popped out of the ground, waving, he nearly didn't see the next missile Deidara launched at him.

'_Now!'_

Just as the bomb exploded, he let the curse mark swamp over his skin, using his wings to fly out of the immediate area of harm.

"Well done, Tobi," Deidara called to his partner. "Now get out of there!"

"Hai, sempai!" the man took off.

Sakura, watching from the trees, tensed. Her eyes flashed as she saw the Akatsuki member head towards the trees.

"Like hell you're getting away!" she shouted, dashing after him.

"Uh-oh!" Tobi turned halfway and saw her, then started screaming and flailing. "Don't hurt Tobi! Tobi didn't want to hurt Sasuke-kun! Tobi is a good boy! Tobi is—!"

"Tobi is an idiot," she deadpanned, catching up to him.

Had she been paying attention to Tobi's chakra instead of on leaping through the trees, she would have noticed that his signature flared for a split second, changing into something darker, more dangerous. But she missed it, and continued to chase him.

"Waaah!" Tobi lost his footing and tumbled earthward. She cursed and followed him, fist outstretched to punch him.

This time it wasn't that much of a surprise when he let her attack through, and she swung again just as he had to solidify to land on the ground.

He blocked her blow, his arm solid and real.

She still didn't know how his jutsu worked, but she knew enough by now that he had to solidify sometimes to attack her and to land.

Her brain whirred through the possibilities.

She could try using the Kan jutsus, or run and hide and then try to locate him with her second mind. If she could join her minds, then she would even be able to save chakra and have the five senses at her disposal.

Sakura made up her mind to do exactly that when Tobi shoved her back. She was about to charge him again when a blast of pure chakra blew her away like a stray leaf in a hurricane.

She smacked into a tree, breaking it, but didn't stop there. She was hurled through the cloud of splinters before crashing into yet another tree. This one held and she felt herself plaster against the trunk, crying out as her back bent to its limit, and coughed up blood.

Her eyes widened as she looked at Tobi. To her sensitive chakra touch, he was brimming over with dark, sinister chakra that was smothering her like a thick blanket. She fought to breath, to move, but she was paralysed by the mere presence of this dark chakra.

"Haruno Sakura…" Tobi murmured, stalking towards her unhurriedly. His voice was so different from before that she flinched. It was deep and dark, like his chakra.

"What a pathetic lie. You are no more Haruno than I am Tobi."

Sakura froze. _'He knows who I am?'_

The man kept coming closer at a slow, deliberate pace, the whole time leaking chakra that was like a physical restraint to her.

"I have to admit I never thought I'd meet one of you again," he remarked. "I thought all of you were gone. But then again, I knew that your kind was around here somewhere, _Rokukan Sakura._"

"H… How…" she faltered.

He let out a sadistic, malicious chuckle that wasn't quite a laugh.

"My dear, do you think I wouldn't recognize those symbols on your cloak? After I've hunted that sign down countless times?"

Sakura stared at him in mute horror. Eyes wide, she took in his appearance through new eyes. That mask… that orange mask just kept bugging her. Where had she heard of it before…?

Realization struck her like a ton of bricks crashing down onto her.

Azami's brother, Eiri's parents… they had all been killed by a _man with a mask_.

Her breathing accelerated, as did her heart. Shutting her eyes, she shivered and asked:

"Who… are you?"

A warm touch on her chin made her scream as her eyes flew open to look into the dark hole in the centre of the spiral in his mask. His touch jolted through her system like a chidori, his chakra nearly burning her skin.

He grasped her chin and tilted it upwards to make her look at him. In the depths of the darkness behind his mask, a single Sharingan eye spun into existence.

'_He's an Uchiha!' _she trembled.

"My name, Sakura-_chan_, is one that you have probably heard," his deep voice told her. He was enjoying this, enjoying her fear.

Sakura closed her eyes, trying to block him out. His chakra signature, his burning touch, his single staring eye… she couldn't think straight. But her scrambled mind somehow managed to pull itself together enough to remember the stars' complaint that somebody had found out about her, somebody who was an Uchiha…

_Uchiha Madara._

That was it. She tried to yank free of his grasp, but he just held on tighter. Biting her lip so hard that blood oozed between her teeth, she finally gasped:  
"You're… Uchiha Madara."

"I'm honoured that you know me," he said silkily. "But now that I've found you, I have no time to waste."

He drifted closer still, and she had to suppress herself from screaming again as he pressed up against her, his tall figure towering over her.

His thumb stroked underneath her bottom lip, and he chuckled quietly.

"With you, I will have exactly a hundred of your kind in my collection. But not only that – with you I will finally be able to enslave the heavens."

XxXxX

Sasuke's shoulders jerked as he heard a feminine scream. It came from the direction of the forest, where Tobi had run off to.

Sakura.

What had happened? Maybe her new attitude and appearance was all fake and she was still as weak as before. Had Tobi defeated her?

Sasuke was torn – on one hand, he was stilling fighting Deidara, who had managed to stay alive even after he'd landed smack in the middle of the minefield, and on the other hand, Sasuke knew that Sakura was in trouble somewhere.

A tug of war started in his head.

He didn't even notice that Deidara was losing his cool, remembering the long past fight with Itachi that had forced him to join Akatsuki. The blonde shinobi was biting his lip with murderous intent in his blue eyes.

'_I won't lose! Not…' _Deidara thought, trembling with anger.

"Not…" the Akatsuki member murmured, catching Sasuke's attention again, "Not to a…"

His hand plunged into a pouch at his side, withdrawing a huge lump of clay. He proceeded to stuff the clay into his mouth, then formed handsigns.

"I'll destroy you with this!" he bellowed. "This is my ultimate jutsu!"

He cast around, and didn't see Tobi anywhere. But in hopes of somehow reaching him, he shouted:

"Tobi, run away!"

There was no answer, so Deidara launched his greatest work of art.

C4 Karura.

XxXxX

Sakura gasped when Madara's hands began to roam her body. Her mind went blank for second, but then…

'_FUCKING BASTARD!'_

… her minds joined.

Anger burned in her veins and she gave Madara a piercing glare. Her focus sharpened, and she cracked her consciousness so that she could move her body and send a piece of her mind out at the same time.

She also broke off a small piece of her joint minds, and that piece shot off to Sasuke. She was in trouble, she knew, even with her new abilities. She didn't really want to enter Madara's mind – who knew what kind of low tricks the elder Uchiha had?

Her mind reached Sasuke in an instant, just as he was fleeing through the trees from Deidara's massive clay copy of himself.

Hopefully he could help her somehow.

XxXxX

Casting his genjutsu, Sasuke watched with satisfaction as Deidara sucked in the illusion with crazy blue eyes. The Uchiha had a moment to repose himself, and in that instant, something blew over him.

He tensed, thinking it was an enemy jutsu, but then he saw a flash of pink in his mind and Sakura's voice echoed through his head.

"_Sasuke! Help me!"_

He looked around, but Sakura was nowhere near. Opening up his chakra, he searched for her, and what he found, made him freeze in confusion.

She was in a clearing not that far away… with another person. And whoever this other person was, he or she had enormous chakra.

Who could it be? Surely not that Tobi guy, he hadn't had that much chakra.

Should he help her? Or just leave her?

Torn between his conflicting halves, Sasuke grunted in annoyance. That little pink haired kunoichi just caused trouble everywhere she went.

Shifting into level two of the curse seal, he formed a series of seals in a flash and slammed his hand onto the ground.

"Reverse Summoning Technique!" he ordered.

With a _poof _of smoke, Sakura appeared, looking rather disoriented.

One moment, she had been staring into Madara's Sharingan eye, and the next, she was standing before…

"Eep!" she jumped when she caught sight of Sasuke.

'_This… is…'_

Naruto had described the level two mutation of the curse seal to her, but that was totally different from what she saw before her. His skin was dark, the whites of his eyes black. A black star – about the same shape as the Rokukan Clan Symbol – spanned the bridge of his nose, and a huge hand-like wing sprouted from his shoulder. A knot of snakes grew from his other shoulder, hissing and writhing and spitting at her.

And thanks to her joined minds, she could see everything in vivid detail.

Automatically, she leaped backwards to put some space between her and this… this… whatever Sasuke had become.

A grunt of annoyance escaped his blank façade, and he muttered:

"Hn. So weak."

Her eyes blazed and she snapped:  
"Oi, you've never been encountered by a supposedly long-dead psychopath, mister! So don't you dare belittle me!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, then turned.

"Whatever. I have to finish this battle," he said. "Do not interfere."

Sakura scowled. She had forgotten just how much of a bastard Sasuke could be.

"Fine," she huffed.

Her minds were still joined, and she tracked Sasuke's movements easily. He took to the air – a feat that made her slightly jealous – and attacked Deidara just as the said man was doing a victory dance on top of his clay bird.

Sakura relaxed slightly as Sasuke punched a hole straight through the blonde's chest. So, that was one down—

Two hands shot up out of the clay to encircle Sasuke's ankles, cutting Sakura's celebrations short. Deidara pulled himself out, grinning like a madman.

"I was waiting for you to use a goddamn genjutsu!" he snickered. "You and Itachi both use that stupid technique! Well, I won't be caught twice in the same trick, asshole!"

He spewed more C4 from his mouth, encasing Sasuke. Sakura began to worry when the Uchiha didn't emerge.

She sent out her mind again, and asked anxiously:

"_Sasuke?"_

He couldn't move in the almost sticky C4 creation that engulfed him, but he flinched slightly.

"Sakura?"

"_Yes, it's me. I can explain later. But more importantly – what the hell are you going to do?!" _she inquired.

"I have a plan. Stop fretting needlessly," he snapped back.

"_Okay, okay, I got the message. I'm just a burden, nothing else. Right." _Her tone was sour.

Sasuke wondered how she could communicate with him over long distances, but shoved the matter to the back of his mind. Right now, he had to worry about getting blown into microscopic pieces of cell tissue.

The Chidori that burst into existence ripped right through the C4 bomb, and he flew towards Deidara, willing himself to dive faster.

The blonde Akatsuki grinned, raising a hand. The mouth on his palm opened, and a tongue lolled out in a grotesque imitation of thumbing your nose.

"It's over!" Deidara taunted, then yelled:

"Katsu!"

The C4 bomb exploded, and, in the last second, Sasuke ran his Raikiri through himself, hoping with all his might that his theories were correct.

Deidara fell through the tree, since he had no chakra to slow his fall. He landed on his side, hard, and the breath was knocked from him.

Dazed, he sat up, just in time to see the crumbling remains of a snake rain onto the ground in front of him.

With wide eyes, the explosion artist breathed:

"I… won. Un! I won!"

He scrambled to his feet, amazement and triumph written over his features before he began to laugh.

His laughter, however, was cut short as two red eyes appeared in his mind. He turned, but it was too late.

Sasuke slammed his fist into Deidara's face, nearly reforming it, and sent the blonde spinning over the ground only to land painfully on his side again.

The Uchiha panted for breath, the remains of his Chidori tingling through his system and giving him painful tweaks.

"You… you…" Deidara managed to splutter.

And Sasuke allowed himself a wry smirk. He had won this time.

XxXxX

Sakura arrived as Sasuke was explaining his victory in that oh-so-arrogant way of his. She rolled her eyes, and darted to his side, noticing the laborious way Sasuke was breathing.

"Take it easy," she ordered, hands lighting up in chakra. She told herself that she was not insulted and hurt when he flinched away from her hands.

"What are you doing?" he demanded harshly.

"Healing you, asshole," she retorted.

A rough, rasping chuckle surprised them both.

Deidara was laughing, his head lolling back before snapping back up straight to glare at Sasuke.

"That's what pisses me off! Those eyes! Those cool, controlled eyes! Eyes that disregard my work, my art, and that pisses me the hell off, un!"

Silence.

Then,

"I couldn't care less about that," Sasuke said evenly. "More importantly, tell me where Itachi is."

Deidara flinched, gaze darkening.

"So it's come to this…" he murmured, and tore his shirt off.

Sakura almost, _almost _ogled him, but restrained herself. The blonde had a beautiful chest, except for…

… a mouth, which erupted open to stretch out a hideously long tongue.

"This will be my last work of art…" Deidara mused, feeding the mouth clay. "And with this last piece, I will become art itself, hehehe…"

Deidara's art… becoming art… alarm bells went off in Sakura's head.

Sasuke obviously guessed the same, and tried to stand. His knees gave way, though, and he collapsed again. Sakura tugged at him, trying to lift him. Maybe she could run…

"The blast radius of the explosion is ten miles!" Deidara yelled. "You'll never get out of the way in time!"

Sakura stared at the blonde. Was he nuts? Ten miles? She'd never outrun that!

"Scream!" Deidara chuckled, dark lines spider-webbing across his skin. "Despair!"

All the dark lines were concentrating in his chest. Sakura desperately started towards the blonde, pulling out a kunai. Maybe if she could lop his head off…

A strong hand caught her wrist in an iron grasp, and Sakura was yanked into Sasuke's chest as he sped through seals, just as Deidara announced:

"Art is—!"

"_Katsu!"_

"—a bang!"

And before Sakura's eyes, almost like in slow-mo, Deidara blew up. That was the last thing she saw before she and Sasuke disappeared in a burst of smoke.

XxXxX

"What the—?" Kiba glanced at the white shape that rose into the sky. He smelled… ash. Some strange, earthy kind of clay. Explosion.

"C'mon, Akamaru!" he said. The large dog barked in agreement and burst into a flat out sprint towards the centre of the explosion. It was already winding down, and Kiba had a feeling of dread. Would he find Sasuke's corpse there…?

XxXxX

"What was that?" Karin asked herself as she saw a white explosion cloud rise into the air. Her hands flew to the seal she used, and she closed her eyes.

They snapped open again right away as she realized with horror:

'_Sasuke's chakra… disappeared!'_

"No, Sasuke-kun!" she shrieked, dashing towards the heart of the explosion.

XxXxX

Suigetsu plopped to his knees, unfurling the scroll that Sasuke had given him earlier on. In the same movement, he pulled out a small vial and popped the stopper out.

"So… then you open it… and put Sasuke's blood on it…" he muttered, gathering his chakra.

He slapped a hand over the seal, and shouted:

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"

With a bang of smoke, a huge snake appeared, lying motionlessly on its side.

"This… this is Manda…" Suigetsu realized with distaste. He noticed that the snake's eyes were glazed over and Sharingan red.

But what was the point of calling a giant snake? He was about to go forwards and poke Manda, just for kicks while he thought of what to do next, when the snake's mouth opened and a pair of figures slid out.

Suigetsu tensed.

He recognized Sasuke right away, but…

The pink haired woman struggled to her feet, breathing heavily. The ex-Mist nin watched with wary fascination as she turned to look at Sasuke.

Sakura didn't know if Sasuke would be nice to her any longer, now that the battle was over. But still… it couldn't hurt to try.

Slowly, hesitantly, she stretched out a hand towards him. He didn't react, so she gloved her hand in green chakra.

"Sasuke…?" she let the question dangle.

His dark gaze slanted over to hers.

Sasuke didn't know why he trusted his ex-teammate. Maybe it was because it had just saved her. Or maybe it was because he was curious. In any case, he didn't know why he gave her the tiniest of nods.

Sakura smiled, and laid her glowing hand on his back. Her chakra fizzled into his wounds, healing the multiple cuts that Deidara's explosions had caused.

Cautiously, Suigetsu approached them and asked.  
"Oi, Sasuke, what happened? And who's this?"

"You can ask me too, you know," the pinkette told him. "I was there too."

"Did you… fight him?" Suigetsu asked, feeling dumb right after he posed the question. If she had fought him, why would she be healing him?

"No," Sakura snorted. "He met a pair of Akatsuki. They tend to try killing you, you know."

Despite the situation, Suigetsu grinned.

"She's hot!" he said to Sasuke. "Are we keeping her? Can we boot Karin out of the team now?"

"Karin remains," Sasuke snapped. Sakura felt a twinge of hurt at that. Who was Karin? And what did she mean to Sasuke?

"But is she joining?" Suigetsu pressed.

"Hey now!" Sakura's chakra vanished. "Just because I helped doesn't mean I'm joining your little gang!"

She became aware of Sasuke dark gaze on her. Turning on him, she hissed:  
"What?"

"You're staying."

"What?!" Anger burned in her mouth. "Hell no!"

"There is no room for any arguments."

"Like hell there isn't! I'm not coming with you!"

Sasuke stared at her in something dangerously close to surprise. So she really had changed. If she hadn't, then she would have been thrilled to follow him.

As she continued to rant about 'hell no, she wouldn't come' he ignored her. When she began to actual stomp her foot on the ground, making it shake, he summoned a scrap of chakra and glared at her with red eyes.

Her knees folded as she was knocked out.

Sasuke managed to catch her as she fell, and grunted as her weight drove him onto his knees. He wouldn't be staying conscious for very much longer.

"Hey, should I take her, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked mischievously. The double meaning was not lost on Sasuke, and even in his half-dead state, he gave the ex-Mist nin a chilling stare.

"Whoa, take it easy," Suigetsu raised his hands, backing off. "I was just kiddin'."

"Hn."

"Sasuke-kun!"

Both men turned towards the call. Karin and Juugo came running up, their cloaks flapping. The redheaded kunoichi stopped dead in her tracks as she caught sight of Sakura slumped over Sasuke's shoulder.

"Who's that, Sasuke-kun?" she pouted. "Did you kill her?"

"She is not dead," the Uchiha said sharply.

"Is she joining us?" Juugo asked in his calm, quiet manner.

"Aa," Sasuke's response was curt, and he slowly stood, supporting Sakura's weight.

Team Hebi raised their eyebrows at each other as Sasuke slowly limped towards their hideout. Karin was fuming silently – if she passed out, Sasuke wouldn't carry her!

The Uchiha ignored their stunned gazes as they trailed after him. More importantly, he focused his eyes on Sakura's relaxed face.

Why, he asked himself, was he taking her along? Narrowing his eyes, he told himself that he was forcing her to go with him because she had seen too much. If he let her go now, then she would find the other Konoha nins and report his location to them. He was in no condition to travel – which brought him to his second logical conclusion. She was a medic, and she could heal him.

As he continued to stare at her face, he though that maybe if he kept up these logical reasons, then he could ignore the tiny voice in his head.

And as his gaze softened slightly, the tiny voice whispered that she had truly become beautiful.

XxXxX

Madara watched, hidden, from high in the air as Sakura healed Sasuke. The third nuke nin, what's-his-name, made a joking, teasing comment.

The elder Uchiha couldn't deny that he was surprised. Why had his descendant chosen to take her along? Probably for her medic skills. Did Sasuke know that she was a Rokukan?

Madara brooded over that particular piece of information.

He had to get her somehow… but really, how? Sasuke wanted her along in his team, and it was best if the boy didn't know about him yet. Madara had carefully laid out plans, and he had to make sure that everything worked out.

Glaring angrily at the girl, he wished that he could just take her with him right now. But that would alert Sasuke to his presence, which was not what he had planned.

But he had time. Madara resigned himself to the long wait. He would strike when the chance came.

XxXxX

**A/N**

Oh my god, I can't wait till this story hits a hundred reviews! But that'll be a while, and probably two chapters in the future. Oh well, I still can't wait!

What did you think of this chapter? Hope you liked it! Sakura's finally met up with Sasuke and his troop, so what's gonna happen now?

Review, please!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Omae! – You!

Sasori-no-Danna – Master Sasori


	9. Chapter 9

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_Even as she grew stronger, she remembered the feeling of helplessness._

XxXxX

**Chapter 9**

When Sakura regained consciousness, the first thing she realized was that she was lying on a comfortable futon. Sighing deeply, still half asleep, she rolled under the covers onto her side.

Her thoughts were still cloudy, but all of the sudden, she remembered that last she had gotten too comfortable in a bed, Itachi had been lying right next to her.

As if to confirm it, she heard a deep, smoky baritone ask:

"Did you find anything?"

"What?!" another voice screeched. Sakura winced, squeezing her eyes shut more tightly.

"You're half-dead and still acting tough?!" the same voice continued.

The pinkette groaned inwardly when that shrill, piercing voice ranted on. Finally, deciding that she wouldn't be going to sleep again any time soon, she opened eyes.

Sakura froze.

She was with Team Hebi. _Team Hebi._ And she had been _sleeping _easily in their presence!

'_Kami! What kind of a ninja am I?!' _she panicked inwardly.

Jerking upright, she gasped as a painful grip caught her wrist.

"Settle down, Sakura," a familiar voice ordered her flatly.

"S… Sasuke?" she turned to see black, black eyes staring at her.

And then…

"AAAGH! I'm in _bed_ with you!" Sakura bolted clear out of the futon, nearly colliding into a near wall. Her eyes were almost comically wide, and she spluttered:

"You… I… you bastard! Ugh! I can't believe you!"

Laughter cut off her horrified ramblings.

"You're really one of a kind," Suigetsu drawled, while the Uchiha merely stared at her coolly. "Most women would probably go bananas if they found themselves in bed with Sasuke. Like Karin," he added.

"Why you!" Karin aimed a kick at Suigetsu, but missed.

"Karin, stop."

The redhead flinched at Sasuke's annoyed voice, and she swallowed, halting immediately.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun! But it was Suigetsu's fault!"

Sasuke just grunted.

Sakura, meanwhile, kept gazing wide-eyed at all of them, then muttered almost desperately:

"This can't be real. I'm hallucinating. That's it." Breathing deeply, she nearly screamed with frustration when nothing changed, and Team Hebi still stood, very much real, right in front of her.

"You're not dreaming, sweetheart," Suigetsu snickered.

"Tell me something I don't know!" the pinkette snapped. Turning on the Uchiha, she practically snarled:  
"I did _not _agree with coming with you! Just because I healed you doesn't mean that I'm coming, dammit!"

"Don't be difficult," Sasuke's eyes darkened.

"Oh, you would like that, wouldn't you?" Sakura, her voice rising. "In fact, you just want me to follow you around like a lost puppy that does nothing but lick your shoes! Well, forget about it! There's not way I'm following a bastard like yo—_Mmph_!"

Karin had smacked Sakura in the back of the head, shrieking:

"Sasuke-sama is not a bastard, you pink haired bitch!"

"Oh yeah?" Sakura rallied back, kicking the redhead in the stomach. "Care to explain why not?"

"You little brat!"

Karin dove at the pink haired medic, who nimbly dodged. Chakra scalpels appeared on the Leaf kunoichi's fingertips, fully four inches long. Slashing out at the redhead, Sakura wasn't surprised when she avoided the blow and aimed a punch at her.

Karin was screeching insults the whole time, and Sakura only answered with short, taunting remarks. Suigetsu hastily made way as the two kunoichi rammed into a wall.

"Phew," he whistled. "Bitch fight."

But before anything else could happen, a single voice drifted through the noise, silencing the room effectively.

"Kill…"

Sakura, inches away from slicing the redhead crossways, halted abruptly and turned towards the growing chakra signature at the window. The hair on the back of her neck stood up as she noticed that the large, quiet man whom she had ignored stood up slowly. Black marks that were chillingly familiar were washing over his body.

"I want… to kill… anybody… anyone…" he growled.

The next moment, Karin and Suigetsu were struggling to hold the large man back.

"Shit!" Karin yelled. "His murderous side woke up! Sasuke-kun, help us!"

Sakura glanced, wide-eyed, at the Uchiha, waiting for his response.

Sharingan red blazed over his eyes, and he spoke in a deep, cold voice:

"Calm down, Juugo."

Juugo, it seemed, stopped in his tracks, the dark marks over his skin receding rapidly. He blinked and looked around in confusion, then fell to his knees as his legs went loose.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" he babbled. "I didn't mean to, I'm so sorry!"

The pinkette gazed at him in shock. What was his problem? One moment he was trying to murder them all, and the next he was so remorseful she actually pitied him.

"What's with him?" she murmured. She automatically turned to the person she knew best – at least she _had_ known best – which was Sasuke.

She looked over her shoulder, only to blink in surprise at the sight that met her eyes.

"He's… asleep?" Karin snorted.

Sakura suppressed a giggle. _The _Uchiha Sasuke had fallen asleep, his shoulders drooping and his chin sagging onto his chest. In fact, he was even snoring.

The sight was priceless, but Sakura didn't let herself dwell on the fact.

She spun around to face the rest of Team Hebi, and hissed:

"Listen, I don't exactly like you guys, and you guys don't like me. I will only cause more trouble if I stay with you right now, because I swear I'll make your lives hell with escaping."

A gleam flashed across her eyes and Suigetsu shivered.

"So, since Sasuke isn't around to stop me, I'll just be leaving… I don't know why he wanted me along in the first place. That's all. Bye."

She turned and was heading for the doorway when Juugo darted in front of her. His recent killer form still in her mind, Sakura stiffened immediately and lurched into a half-crouch, her hands already going to her kunai holster.

"What?" she growled at the large man.

His eyes seemed sympathetic, but he answered:

"I'm sorry, but it would be a bad idea to leave."

"Why?"

"Sasuke would be… displeased."

Sakura snorted at that.

"There are lots of things that 'displease' him. I used to spend my entire time looking for something that _did_ 'please' him, and I found nothing. Nothing! He's an ungrateful bastard who doesn't give a shit about anybody, anything, not even his _friends_," she spat that word. Not noticing that her tone was getting higher and more hysterical, she burst:

"And I'm tired of his crappy revenge! He could have just as well stayed in Konoha, goddammit! I can't even begin to explain how completely _pissed _I am with that moronic, arrogant, stick-up-his-ass, condescending jackass! Now if you please, Juugo, _move _or I'll have to force you to."

Stunned silence.

Team Hebi exchanged awestruck glances. Sakura certainly looked impressive, her eyes wide and burning with emerald fire, her hair in a wild disarray, her face pale with hectic, angry red spots over her cheekbones and her fists clenching and unclenching in her agitation.

"You're one hell of a kunoichi, aren't you?" Suigetsu finally whistled.

"If that's a compliment, then save your breath," she informed him coldly.

Juugo, still in front of her, frowned slightly and shook his head.

"I'm just trying to warn you… um… What's your name?"

"Sakura!" she hissed.

"Sakura," he repeated, "I'm giving you a piece of advice. Sasuke would… well, he would search for you. And if he decided that you have to go along with him, then he will hunt you until he catches you."

"Like that's something new," Sakura rolled her eyes. "Hell, he's been searching his damned aniki his entire life as a shinobi."

"It's serious advice," he said again, his eyes worried.

The pinkette looked at him – _really _looked at him. His orange-blonde hair was spiky around an honest, gentle face. His expression was tight and anxious. Suddenly, she blurted:  
"Why did you… um, well, go kinda crazy back there?"

Shamefaced, he looked down and away.

"I have a curse on me," he explained. "It—"

"—makes him go berserk," Suigetsu interrupted. "Juugo is the origin of the juin – the curse seal that Sasuke has."

"Oh." Sakura looked back at Juugo with new eyes. "Why were you at Orochimaru's psychopathic labs?"

"He promised to keep me from killing people…" the man answered miserably.

A hard laugh broke from the pinkette.

"You should have gone to a different village," she told him honestly. "They would have treated you better."

"Can we quit the yakking around?" Karin griped. They'd nearly forgotten her. "Just let the bitch go, Suigetsu, Juugo. She'll only cause more trouble."

"Oi, oi, hold up." Suigetsu held up his hands, then pointed behind them all where the Uchiha was still sleeping soundly. "If we tell Sasuke after he wakes up again that we let Cherry here get away, he'll chidori the lot of us."

"Cherry?" Sakura sputtered indignantly, but Suigetsu overrode her, saying:

"Plus, you know that if we let her go she'll report our location to the Konohas. Right, Karin?"

"That's not a valid excuse!" the redhead argued. "We'll just have to take her voice box out… or something!"

Sakura bristled, backing away from them. Unknowingly, that motion brought her closer to Sasuke's futon.

"If one of you tries _touching _my vocal cords, I'll gut all of you. I'm rather attached to being able to speak, thank you very much."

"You mean being able to cuss," Suigetsu muttered.

Sakura ignored him, her eyes darting to the exit and to the rest of them.

Karin sneered at the Leaf medic, starting towards the door.

"I've got errands to run," she sniffed. "Juugo, Suigetsu, if you're so intent on keeping her, then go ahead. But I've no doubt that that little kunoichi could chop your most precious parts off."

With that, she shoved rudely past Juugo to the door and left.

"What a prick," Suigetsu muttered to the large, orange haired man. "She's always like that." His focus returned to Sakura once more, and he grinned impishly.

"Although, I bet that you really would give us the hook, Cherry…"

"Don't call me that!" she hissed back, not liking that toothy grin on his face.

Sakura backed up a little more, and her heel hit the edge of the futon. Caught off guard, she flailed… before losing her balance and toppling over.

Right onto Sasuke.

Things went too fast for her to react to. Even after her training in flash-stepping, she didn't see how she ended up pinned down by… yes, you guessed it: Sasuke.

One moment she was falling and turning her body to maybe get her arms underneath her, to break the fall… and then she felt her hands connect with Sasuke's chest.

He woke up with a start, his black eyes spinning into red at once, and his hand went to the sword within his reach. The blade was out of the sheath even before she completely landed on him, and when she did, one of his hands dug painfully into her shoulder to flip her around while the other one held the ice-cold edge of the sword to her throat.

She froze instinctively, only snatching a look at burning red before squeezing her eyes shut.

"Sakura…?" he said her name almost slowly. He nearly sounded confused. Well, anybody would be startled after being woken up so abruptly.

"A… Aa?" she told herself that she didn't squeak.

She felt him shift on top of her, and heat immediately shot up her cheeks. Her eyes opened without her command, and she watched as his crimson and black eyes travelled over her face in evident surprise.

"What are you doing?"

His deep voice hit her, and she started babbling:

"Oh… Oh! Nothing! I was walking backwards and I wasn't looking where I was going, and then I tripped over the edge of your futon and… and… Arg!"

'_Forget about getting killed by Sasuke', _she thought frantically, turning her gaze aside. _'I'll be embarrassed to death right here and now.'_

"Tch."

Her breath caught at the familiar sound. She watched with nearly despairing eyes when he _didn't move_ _off of her, dammit!_

"Uh…" she swallowed nervously, not aware of Suigetsu and Juugo's wide-eyed stares. Her own eyes were trained on the far wall.

"Can you let me up now, Sasuke?"

"Hn."

She took that as a 'no', since he still didn't move.

"Well, then, can you let me go?" she asked hopefully.

Since her eyes were still averted, she didn't see Sasuke's piercing, probing gaze examined her.

The Uchiha didn't know why he was doing this. But ever since he had woken up from his nap by Sakura's impromptu fall, his mind was thinking rather strange thoughts. Thoughts that he had done his best to avoid.

For example… why the hell was he still taking her along?

Immediately, he reverted back to his two logical arguments from before, but with each time he repeated them in his head, they sounded less and less convincing.

His eyes narrowed into a fierce glare.

And also, he found himself marvelling in the way she felt underneath him, pressed against him, her gaze nervously turned away from him… she was chewing her bottom lip…

With a spike of horror, Sasuke realized that, for a split second, his hormones had asked him what it would be like to kiss her.

'_No', _he told himself forcefully.

He had to remind himself that she had asked a question and was still waiting for an answer.

"You're staying."

Now her gaze snapped back to his, murderously angry.

"Why?" she nearabout snarled. "What's the damn lame excuse for why you're taking me along, Sasuke? I'm not the best medic around, plus I'm annoying, according to you!"

She let out an angry _humph_ before reaching up to shove him off of her.

Her hands didn't even get halfway to his chest before his Sharingan saw her movement and he grabbed her wrists in one hand.

"You stay because I can keep you here whether you want to or not," he told her with that maddening arrogant tone.

"You can't," she argued. "You've got depleted chakra." After all, she of all people should know how helpless you could be without chakra. She'd just gone through it a day ago.

Sasuke's eyes seemed to harden and he said flatly:

"I am not depleted."

Sakura stared at him with shock, then anxiety. Automatically, she flexed her own chakra and reached out to brush Sasuke's.

He wasn't lying, she realized with a sinking feeling. His levels were already rebuilding themselves rapidly, at an abnormal pace. He had about an eighth of his usual reserves back already, and for a shinobi of his level, that was quite enough to fight her.

"How…?" her voice came out smaller than she would have liked it to.

He scowled, his eyes slanting downwards to hers in an intimidating glare.

Suigetsu saw the scowl and prepared himself to avert his eyes. He knew out of experience that the Uchiha didn't like being asked where he got his power from.

There was a brief, tense silence, then:

"I took over Orochimaru," Sasuke unexpectedly answered. His tone was tight and curt, but he had answered the question without violence.

Suigetsu's already wide eyes opened further.

Sakura's shocked expression morphed into disgust.

"Eww…" she scrunched up her nose.

Sasuke had taken over Orochimaru? That meant that the Snake Sannin was… _inside _Sasuke? Instantly, the thought of Sasuke straddling her was not as appealing as before.

Her green eyes hardened into a calculating gaze.

"So… you're going to force me to go with you," she said in a slow, quiet voice that barely hinted at her fury.

Sasuke gave a short, curt nod.

"You _bastard_," the pinkette seethed. Even though it was an insult, it was also an unspoken surrender. Both she and Sasuke knew this. She couldn't do anything at the moment – it would be better to wait and then escape at the right time.

But it was an insult nonetheless.

Again, Suigetsu winced and looked away, waiting for… well, whatever type of punishment Sasuke would decide to inflict upon the medic.

Nothing happened.

Risking a glance at the two on the futon, Suigetsu started with surprise.

Sasuke just gave Sakura an unimpressed stare before flashing off of her in one of those incomprehensibly quick movements.

Sakura lay for a second longer, just long enough to register that her former teammate was no longer on top of her. Scrambling upright, she saw Sasuke standing next to her, looking at her expectantly.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Move."

She blinked, before realizing that she was still on his futon. She shot up, darting away, keeping her gaze on him warily.

But all he did was climb back onto the bed, pull the blankets to his chin and go back to sleep without meeting her gaze.

Sakura's eyes widened, before she angrily thought:

'_Great, he's acting so calm and confident! Kami, I swear he's doing this all just to piss me off! Now talk about annoying! Not to mention, he still looks cool even when he goes to sleep. Ugh!'_

Shaking her head and trying to calm her quick temper, she walked over to furthest corner possible and sat down.

Ignoring the other two men, she closed her eyes, attempting to meditate and calm herself.

XxXxX

"Whoa, what's this?"

Naruto, Hinata, Yamato and Buru skidded to a stop behind Kakashi. The copy ninja was staring at the centre of a huge crater that expanded outwards for ten miles in every direction.

"What is it?" Naruto repeated impatiently.

Kakashi opened his mouth to talk, started to say something…

Just then, Kiba and Akamaru blew over to them, kicking up dust in their sliding stop.

"Huh? What happened here?" the Inuzuka asked, echoing Naruto.

Kakashi started to explain:

"It's—"

Sai poofed into existence in front of Naruto, cutting Kakashi off. The former Root member didn't ask anything, but his blank gaze looked slightly curious.

Kakashi tried to respond, but just then, Shino materialized next to Kiba.

"Kakashi-san, what happened?" he asked.

Now the copy nin just groaned and said:  
"If your all finished bursting in at random intervals, then look here, all of you."

Pulling a hand from his pocket, he held up a hitai-ate. Showing it to all of them, he asked gravely:

"Do you know what this means?"

"I don't get it," Naruto said slowly, "It's just a crossed-out Iwa forehead protector."

"Baka!" Kiba snarled. "It means that an Iwa nuke-nin was around."

"Iwa nins are specialized in earth style jutsus," Shino said in his usual low, slightly creepy voice. "And since it's crossed out, we can assume that it's an Akatsuki."

"More like was," Yamato said quietly.

"Why do you say that?" Naruto turned to the Mokuton-wielder.

"Because our intel described one of the Akatsuki who could create explosives. Naruto, you probably know who I'm talking about."

Teeth gritted, the blonde, blue-eyed shinobi stared at the dusty ground. Yes, he remembered all too well…

"Deidara," he spat.

"Yes," Kakashi agreed. "And Pakkun says that Sasuke's scent lingers here still, even through the explosion."

The brown pug-like dog with droopy eyes nodded and added:  
"We can assume that Sasuke fought Deidara. I cannot pick up his scent leaving the area, however."

"Now way!" Naruto energetically shook his head. "The bastard couldn't have died! Right, Kakashi?"

When there was no answer, he agitatedly repeated:

"Kaka-sensei?!"

"Hold it!" that was Kiba. His eyes were closed in concentration, and he announced:

"Sakura's scent is here as well."

"What? Sakura-chan was here?!" Now Naruto was yelling.

"And I've found Sasuke," Kiba continued, looking rather smug. "Nowadays, my nose is better than a hound's."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"Lead us to him," he ordered.

"Oi, oi! Hold up!" Naruto waved his hands frantically. "What about Sakura-chan?"

"Her scent disappears exactly where Sasuke's does," Kiba replied. "And right now, her scent is right next to Sasuke's."

Silence.

Then,

"H…He kid… kidnapped h…her?" Hinata's voice was even quieter than usual.

"M… Masaka!" Naruto was stuttering alongside Hinata.

Kakashi's visible eye tightened. He was silent for a couple of heartbeats, then he said:

"We'll track Sasuke. Kiba, report to us immediately if Sakura's scent moves away from Sasuke. If she does, then we can assume that she got away and just leave her to either find us or wait for us somewhere. Focus on Sasuke."

"Hai!" Kiba nodded and Akamaru sprinted off, the rest of the Konoha nins following.

XxXxX

"So… here, huh?"

Jiraiya stared at the intimidating buildings that loomed over him. Rain steadily poured down, soaking anything that wasn't shielded under a roof of any sort.

'_The Hidden Rain Village… it's still crying, just like back then…' _he remembered. A shadow passed over his eyes as a memory of three young shinobi passed through his mind.

Shaking off the thought, he approached the village.

The Sannin didn't even notice that he had broached a sensing barrier. Ignorant of that fact, he set up a trap, turning one of his toads into a rather strange building. He christened it 'Club Toad' – rather uncreative, but it would do – and placed a henge around himself.

Now he could do nothing but wait.

A few minutes later, two low-ranking ninjas entered, lured by the sign of free sake. Jiraiya stood behind the counter, polishing a glass, and listened as the two shinobi complained about how 'Master Pain' was driving them too hard.

That was all the Sannin needed to hear for the moment. With a wicked grin, he dispelled the henge and let his toad return to its normal state. Immediately, the amphibian hopped into the nearby lake.

"Wh… Where are we?" one of the ninjas cried.

"Inside my toad," Jiraiya replied in an off-hand manner. "But I'm the one asking the questions here."

His gaze hardening, he asked:

"Who is this 'Master Pain'?"

Both of the shinobi shut their mouths tightly and wouldn't answer.

"If you're going to be stubborn, then I have no choice. I'll have to torture you guys, I'm afraid."

"Torture?" they already looked a little bit frightened.

Jiraiya nodded gravely, all seriousness, and produced… a feather.

The two shinobi stared at it, then at him.

"You've got to be kidding."

"No, I'm not."

The Toad Sage proceeded to thoroughly tickle the ninja with spiky hair, making him roar with laughter. The other Ame nin encouraged his partner to keep quiet, and after a while, Jiraiya grew tired of it.

"Guess it can't be helped," he muttered. Placing a hand on the ninja's forehead, he ordered:

"Ninpou: Kaeru ni Kaeru no Jutsu!"

With a poof, the man turned into… yes, a toad.

The poor creature croaked pitifully, almost like a man crying.

"And now for you…!" Jiraiya turned to the other one, a wide, evil smile in place.

The remaining shinobi panicked, his eyes widening and sweat running down his face.

"It's rumoured… that Master Pain lives in the highest tower… in the village," he mumbled.

"Eh?" Jiraiya grinned. "What was that about not ratting out on your superiors?"

The ninja looked down, shamefaced.

"Okay, I'll quit the teasing," the Toad Sage turned serious.

"Tell me everything about Pain…"

XxXxX

Karin froze.

Eyes sliding shut, she concentrated on the coming signatures. Seven of them were definitely shinobi, and the last was most likely an animal summon.

Turning on her heel, the redhead charged back to Team Hebi's hideout. She arrived at the door, and didn't bother opening it.

Unluckily, Suigetsu had chosen just that moment to approach the door, wondering out loud where Karin was…

Sakura sensed the signature outside the door just in time and darted forwards, knocking Suigetsu out of the way right as the door slammed open and downwards.

Karin had simply kicked in the door, screaming:

"Sasuke-kun! Wake up! We're being followed!"

"Phew, thanks, Cherry," Suigetsu pretended to wipe his brow.

Sakura didn't answer, kicking herself inwardly. She had planned not to help any of these nuke nins, but when she had realized what was coming, she had just pushed Suigetsu out of the way…

'_No, baka!' _she reprimanded herself. _'You are so __**not**__ gonna get all soft over these traitors! Seriously, get a grip on yourself!'_

She watched as Sasuke blinked awake, calm and cool as freshly fallen snow. He slowly sat up, instructing:

"We leave, now. Karin, who is following us?"

"Either the Akatsuki, or Leaf nins."

Shock and joy jolted through Sakura, and she inquired quickly:

"What makes you say that? Why Konoha nins?"

Karin snorted, giving her a highly superior look, and answered:

"There are eight chakra signatures, and some of them are very powerful. Also, the eighth one is a nin dog."

"Impressive," Sakura mumbled, her mind racing through her possibilities. If she could somehow slip away from Sasuke, just long enough to get the Konoha nins' attention…

"Sakura."

She gritted her teeth, slowly turning her face to look at her former teammate.

His black eyes were flinty, and he intoned:

"Do not make me chain you."

A sneer curled Sakura's lip, and she spat:

"As if you could."

"Aa, I could."

Her eyes flashed back to him. There was no joking in his tone, and his facial expression was even and smooth… too smooth.

"Teme," she ground from between her teeth. Stalking past him, she headed towards the door.

Realizing that they were all staring at her, she hissed:

"What? You said we were leaving, right?"

Sasuke's gaze narrowed. She was being too helpful. Rising, he grabbed his cloak and, firmly tying his katana to his belt, walked out of the room behind Sakura.

Outside, the pinkette halted for a second, her eyes closed. She was utilizing her own tracking senses. Even if she wasn't as good as Karin, she could still sense chakra signatures fairly well.

Team Hebi's chakra nearly blazed since they were so close to her. She ignored their bright signatures and focused on reaching as far out as possible. About a mile out, she felt the aforementioned eight signatures.

Excitement gushed through her as she recognized Kakashi, Yamato, Naruto, Sai, Hinata, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru. She would definitely try to get away now!

Sakura risked a small glance at Sasuke, who was just fastening his cloak around his shoulders. She had a couple of seconds to do this…

Closing her eyes again, she summoned all her willpower and cracked her consciousness in a second. That was the fastest time yet that she had managed to do so.

Easily scooting half of her consciousness into her second mind, she used the other half to move her body to follow Sasuke. Then, when she was sure that her body would respond correctly, she started to push her second mind out.

It took a couple of tries, but finally, she launched out of her skull.

Her second mind raced to the Konoha nins within a few seconds, and she yelled into the empty air:

"_Kaka-sensei! Naruto! Sai! Yamato-taichou!"_

All seven nins and Akamaru started, stopping dead and looking around warily.

Naruto, however, didn't panic like the rest of them. His blue eyes widened into round saucers and he breathed:

"Sakura-chan? It's you again?"

At the same time, Kakashi asked quietly:

"Sakura?"

"_Yes, it's me! Hurry and track Sasuke! He's got me."_

Naruto's expression immediately turned into a stormy frown and he yelled:

"That bastard!"

"_Save the cussing, Naruto! Hurry the hell up and find him! We're about a mile away."_

"Wakata, dattebayo!" the Jinchuriki dove forward, his speed increasing.

"Hold it, Naruto!" he heard Yamato yell.

"What?" the blonde shinobi yelled back.

"How do we know that it's not a trap? Maybe this is an enemy jutsu!"

"It isn't!" Naruto immediately responded, while Sakura also urged:

"_Taichou, it __**is**__ me! Please, please, believe it for now and get me out of here! Sasuke won't listen to me."_

The Mokuton wielder narrowed his eyes sceptically, and was about to answer when Kiba hollered:

"We've got a problem! Sasuke's scent has split up and they're moving in different directions!"

"Huh?" Naruto scrunched up his face. "How's that possible?"

"My guess is that somebody in Sasuke's team can sense chakra extremely well and alerted him. He must have made a plan to throw us off his scent."

"B… But… what a… about… S… Sakura's sc… scent?" Hinata inquired.

Her teammate shook his head.

"Her scent's divided up as well."

"Then we'll look everywhere at the same time!" Naruto bellowed, his hands forming his trademark seal.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

And the woods around him exploded into Naruto yells.

XxXxX

Sakura had been listening to the Konoha nins discussion, until she was roughly jarred from her second mind. The source of the interruption: Karin had sliced her arm with a kunai.

The pain coiled through her main mind, calling her second mind back.

As she slammed back into her body, she yelled:

"What the hell are you doing?!" Only to stop short when she saw what the redhead had done.

"You…!" she hissed, clutching her arm. The pinkette jumped to the right, far away from the other kunoichi, staring in horror at what she'd done.

Her cloak – the cloak that Eiri had given her – was now completely ruined. The hood had been severed by Itachi, and now a long strip from her right arm was jaggedly cut off.

Sakura gritted her teeth, her eyes stinging.

'_No! I will not cry over clothing, no matter how important!' _she told herself.

Karin just shrugged and waved the strip of material around.

"What?" she asked innocently. "It's just a black cloak. I don't see why you're being such a baby about it."

Sakura looked away, chanting: _'Ignore her! Ignore her!'_

"Of course," the redhead continued maliciously, "if you want to cry about some dumb cloak, you can. I wouldn't doubt that you cry about everything."

"Enough!"

Sakura paused, her mouth open. She would have yelled at the kunoichi, but a cold voice had cut in before she could say a word. She slowly turned towards the front, where Sasuke was leading them onwards.

Why had he just defended her?

Sasuke felt the eyes of his team on him, and stubbornly kept his gaze focused to the front. He didn't know why he had reacted to Karin's annoying jabs, but something inside of him twitched with anger whenever the redhead insulted Sakura.

Especially if it was about the pinkette crying…

He brushed off the memories that threatened to break loose.

Sakura, on her part, was dumbfounded. Shaking her head, she decided to ignore Sasuke's randomly half-nice gestures for the moment.

She looked back to her cloak. Her lips pressed into a thin, hard line as she remembered Eiri's sincere gaze and his words:

"_These used to belong to my mother."_

'_I'm sorry, Eiri-san', _she thought sadly. Well, she'd have to see if she could save the cloak when she got a chance to sit down somewhere. After all, she had not forgotten her sewing lessons with Hinata and Ino.

She watched with a small amount of worry when Karin and Juugo dropped back, whispering amongst themselves. Karin was obviously asking Juugo for something, because he nodded and raised his arms.

A flock of birds descended on his arms while Karin began shredding the piece of Sakura's cloak and a dirty, dusty white shirt.

Sakura raised a brow when she noticed the Uchiha crest on the shirt just before the redhead's kunai cut it in two.

Bitterly, Sakura realized what the two nuke nins were doing. Since Konoha was well known to use tracking dogs well, they were going to throw the Leaf nins off of their trail. A part of Sakura wanted to fly forwards, screaming, and wrench the clothes and kunai from the redhead. But the rational part of her whispered that is she did that, then Sasuke really would chain her in one way or the other. She wouldn't put it past this new Sasuke to restrain her chakra with some sort of jutsu.

So, all she could to was angrily watch as the birds took off in different directions, and hope that her friends would find her even with this new difficulty.

All she could do was believe in them.

XxXxX

**A/N**

I've got vacation now! That means that I've got lots of time to plan and write the next chapter, so don't be surprised if the updates come a day or two earlier than normal. I've got two weeks off of school, so I'll try and use the opportunity while it lasts.

I hope you liked this chapter. I blame all the sexual tension between Sasuke and Sakura on the fact that I met the cutest and nicest guy ever in the world. Okay, for the lack of better words, I'll just say that I've got a crush on him and my writings gone kinda loopy.

Still, maybe you liked this loopy chapter anyways. Please review! :)

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Mokuton – Wood Element (Yamato uses it, and so did the Shichidaime Hokage)

Team Hebi – Team Snake

Taichou - Captain

Ninpou: Kaeru ni Kaeru no Jutsu – Ninja Art, Frog Transformation Note: The Japanese is actually a pun since Kaeru can mean 'frog' and with the 'ni' before the second time it means 'transform into'.

(Shichidaime Hokage – First Hokage)


	10. Chapter 10

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_She learned that in the midst of a crisis, she had to be strong. She could always cry later when there was enough time._

XxXxX

**A/N**

Hello, everybody!

I forgot to mention that I was absolutely stunned when the review bar hit 100! I checked my fic, and my jaw dropped to the floor, I swear.

Anyways, I want to give a special thanks to _**K&K**_ for being so patient with me. I absolutely treasure your reviews and comments on my story – maybe one day my writing will be as good as yours! :)

And also, _**Jaylee-Rebel**_. You rock, seriously! I wish you the best of luck on your new fic, and I'm sure that you'll discover your writer's side in no time!

And please don't think I've forgotten the rest of you reviewers! I adore all of you, and I really, really, really appreciate that you take time to leave a comment behind for me. Just so you know, I have a special folder in my email inbox where I put only reviews, and I thank all of you for filling that folder up with so many encouraging feedbacks!

Now, enough of the sentimentality. Although I do love emotion, you're probably itching to read the next chapter. Onwards!

XxXxX

**Chapter 10**

"Okay, I think I've been patient enough," Kakashi's words came out in a low, intense tone. Naruto, his eyes narrowed in concentration, jumped as his attention was pulled from his Shadow Clones to his mentor.

"Hai?" he asked.

"Why exactly did Sakura's voice appear around us?" the copy ninja inquired. "How do you know that it wasn't fake?" A hard, sharp edge entered his voice. "And why didn't you tell me about this before?"

"I bloody damn want an explanation myself," Kiba growled.

"Uh… hehe, sorry, Kaka-sensei," Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, feeling the gazes of all the others on him. "It kinda slipped my mind. And I am a hundred percent sure that it was Sakura-chan, dattebayo!"

"Why?"

"Because she's done this weird mind-to-mind speaking thing before," the blonde explained. "About… um… almost a week ago. She spoke to me when I got back from training with you and Yamato-taichou, Sensei."

"Aha… And you automatically trust that?" Kakashi's lone eye narrowed dangerously.

Gulping, Naruto defended himself:

"But-but-but, Kaka-sensei! She sounded sooo much like Sakura-chan!"

The rest of the group groaned in unison, save Hinata, and Shino asked:

"_What_ did she say?"

"Stuff about punching me through the Hokage mountain if I told anybody," Naruto admitted sheepishly.

"You're just whipped," Kiba sniffed.

Naruto sent the Inuzuka a deadly glare, but Kakashi interrupted, saying:

"I still can't believe you just let that pass, Naruto. But for the moment, we don't have much of a choice. Whether who we heard was really Sakura or an enemy, our goal is still clear."

"Hai!" The others chorused.

Kakashi's gaze slid to Naruto, and he continued:

"For now, we can only cope with what we've been given. Naruto, have any of your clones sensed anything?"

"Not yet, but they're bound to find something any time now!"

XxXxX

Sakura was ready to scream in frustration.

In her head, she ran through every single curse word she knew, thinking daggers at everybody in Team Hebi.

She'd tried to escape twice, and twice they had stopped her! The first time, when she had slowly dropped behind and then suddenly reversed directions, Suigetsu's monster sword had swept up behind her. As she dodged it, Juugo's arm had securely snagged her around the waist, effectively causing her to fold around his limb with a choked cry.

The second time… Sasuke had grabbed her arm, twisting it with bruising strength.

She absentmindedly brushed the bruise on her arm, a brief flare of her chakra soothing the pressured tissue. Glaring at the Sasuke's back, she wondered what the hell was going on in the Uchiha's head.

Gritting her teeth, she forced her gaze downwards, kicking herself in the ass for staring at him. She was only glad that he didn't have the Byakugan; otherwise he might have caught her staring.

Out of habit, she scanned her surroundings for the umpteenth time, hoping that she would feel her teams' familiar chakra. But there was nothing.

Sakura snuck a glance at Karin, leaping to the front and right. The redhead was silent, brooding over something. Sakura didn't care to wonder what the other kunoichi was thinking about, instead carefully checking that Karin wouldn't bother her.

The pinkette's eyes slid shut, and she quickly located her second mind. Frowning, she urged herself to hurry up the process of switching minds and leaving the confines of her body.

Finally, she was outside again. Now she had a huge range, much further than her chakra could ever go, and she searched intently for any familiar signatures.

She found… relieving and troubling presences.

Behind her and Team Hebi, about two miles away, she could feel the Konoha Teams searching in grid patterns. So, they had been thrown by the scent divisions, then. The woods nearby was filled with identically bright chakras, and she recognized them immediately.

They were Naruto's Kage Bunshin, and they were spreading out fast.

Hope lit within her, only to flicker unsteadily as Sakura examined the other signatures she had found.

When she finally recognized the chakra, she wanted to roll her eyes and gasp in horror simultaneously.

Why, oh why, was Itachi lingering near her loudmouth teammate?

Concern welled up inside of her. Even though she sympathized with the elder Uchiha brother, she was not willing to trust him alone with Naruto.

Her mind arrowed towards Itachi, her thoughts grim.

She wanted to talk with him.

XxXxX

Itachi's entire body tensed when a voice called sternly:

"_Itachi-san."_

Who was it? Itachi scanned the area with his chakra, frowning when he sensed nobody. Why was the voice so familiar?

"_It's me, Itachi-san. It's Sakura."_

Itachi's frown deepened. He must be hallucinating. Why would he be hearing the Konoha medic… in thin air?

Nevertheless, he didn't let his surprise show, instead murmuring:

"Sakura-san. May I ask what exactly you're doing?"

"_Of course you can ask. The question is if I'll answer." _There was amusement in her disjointed voice, which hardened into iron determination.

"_However, I'm here for a different reason. Why are you nearing Naruto?" _The sharp edge in her tone made Itachi smirk.

"Worried about Uzumaki, are we?" he asked, an almost teasing note in his deep voice.

"_Just tell me!"_

"You can't order _me_ around, kunoichi. However, I will answer your question. I want to give Uzumaki a… present. And ask him something."

"_What kind of a present?" _There was suspicion in Sakura's voice.

Itachi took a moment to steady himself, and answered:

"Part of my strength."

"_And why?"_

"That question connects to what I want to ask your teammate about."

"_Dammit, tell me! What is it, Itachi?"_

The Uchiha sighed and gazed up at the sky which peeked through the treetops.

"I want to ask him… what he'll do if Sasuke attacks Konoha."

"_And what do you want to hear from Naruto?"_

Itachi's eyes slid closed. He sighed from somewhere deep in his chest and answered:

"My hope is that Uzumaki-san will protect Konoha. Even…" his voice trembled the tiniest bit, "Even if he has to kill Sasuke."

Dead silence.

Then,

"_ARE YOU NUTS?!" _Sakura yelled. _"You've gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me!"_

"No, listen!" Itachi's voice was hard as his eyes snapped open. "It's the only way!"

"_It is __**not **__the only way, you moronic idiot! Geez, what's with you Uchiha men?! Too stubborn, and too proud!" _she ranted. _"You listen to me, Uchiha Itachi! Naruto would never be able to kill Sasuke! He just… can't!"_

"I will see what he answers himself."

"_Ugh," _Sakura groaned. _"This is some messed up shit going on. I can't believe it's real."_

"Language, Sakura." A smirk tugged at his lips.

"_Don't you correct my language, mister! You have absolutely no right to, you friggin' prick!"_

By now, Itachi was a hundred percent sure that this was the real Sakura talking to him. But curiosity surfaced inside him, and he asked:

"May I ask you something now, Sakura?"

"_Whatever."_

He took that as a 'yes'.

"How are you able to communicate with me over distances? And how did you break through Tsukuyomi?"

"_I… don't really think I'm allowed to tell you."_

"You shouldn't have found out about the Uchiha massacre, either," Itachi challenged. "You owe me an explanation."

"_Fine," _she snapped. _"I am not a Haruno. I'm a Rokukan. Happy?"_

Itachi's eyes widened, and he repeated slowly:

"Rokukan…? Are you sure?"

"_Of course I'm sure! What is it? What's bothering you?"_

The elder Uchiha brother shuddered, a small itch of discomfort crawling through him. It all made sense now – her ability to block his dojutsu, her voice in the air when she wasn't there… Why hadn't he seen it before!

"_Itachi-san?" _her voice sounded curious. _"What's wrong?"_

"Sakura… I urge you to run. No, hide. Hiding would be better. Hide and do not come out for a while."

"_Why?"_

"Because…" Itachi steeled himself.

"Uchiha Madara is after you."

To his surprise, Sakura only huffed a breath and answered:

"_I know. He tried to capture me."_

Itachi's eyebrows shot up. An intense expression for him.

"You evaded him? Congratulations, that is quite a feat."

"_Actually, I didn't escape by myself." _She sounded slightly sheepish. _"Sasuke rescued me."_

Now Itachi fought the urge to let his eyes open wide. His little brother had saved her? Then Sasuke had done the world a favour.

"That is… unexpected," he muttered.

"_Itachi-san… why is Madara after me?" _a slight quiver entered her voice.

"_What does he want of me?"_

Itachi sighed and answered reluctantly:

"I don't why… but he's been killing Rokukan Clan members _for decades_. And… he's been collecting the corpses."

XxXxX

Sakura fought a startled cry.

Her body, jumping through the trees behind Sasuke, flinched and nearly missed the next branch. Her foot slipped for a while before chakra gathered, sticking her to the wood.

Knowing that Madara had killed Eiri's parents and Azami's brother was bad enough… but hearing that the man had been murdering her family to collect their bodies for decades shocked her beyond words. It was purely disgusting.

She swallowed thickly, darting a glance towards Sasuke. She flinched as she realized that the younger Uchiha had noticed her body falter. His face was inclined towards her slightly.

"_Itachi-san, sorry for the abrupt halt," _she said. _"But I have to stop now. Sasuke's noticed that something's up."_

"Wait," Itachi's eyes narrowed. "You didn't tell me that you were travelling with my otouto."

"_Whoops, I didn't?" _she asked guiltily. _"Sorry. It slipped my mind."_

"Why are you with him?"

"_He forced me along—Itachi, I have to go. Sayonara!"_

She cut the conversation off, returning to her body just as Sasuke halted in front of her. She nearly crashed into him, only avoiding a collision with a graceful somersault through the air.

"Sakura," his voice was sharp. "What were you doing?"

"Me?" she asked innocently. "I wasn't doing anything."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and he barked:

"Don't lie to me – what were you doing?"

Sakura sighed, placing a hand on her hip. Gathering all her skill in lying, she answered:

"Fine, I was thinking about how I used to have a crush on you. Sorry for staring at you, by the way. Anyways, I was remembering stuff, and not paying attention where I was going. Happy now?"

She knew out of experience that if you used an embarrassing truth, then people were more willing to believe the lie. She hoped that Sasuke would buy it.

Instead of scoffing, or otherwise making fun of her, he unexpectedly stepped closer to her on the branch, his proximity setting off alarm bells in her head. He didn't flash-step – his advance was deliberate and slow, meant to intimidate.

She backed away, her eyes darting from Sasuke to the rest of Team Hebi. They had stopped, eyeing her curiously.

"Sakura," Sasuke drawled, drawing her attention again. She gulped, forcing her gaze from his face. He had activated that bloody Sharingan of his, and was examining her with it.

"What?" she snapped, hoping with all her might that the lie wouldn't be caught.

She hoped in vain. The Sharingan picked up the tiniest twitch of her mouth, the slight trembling in her voice…

"You're lying to me," he stated, irritated. Why wouldn't she tell him?

Slowly, but surely, this new Sakura was getting under his skin. Her nervous, tense way around him had him convinced that she was hiding something from him. A big something. And he had to make sure she had nothing up her sleeves.

"I'm not," she automatically denied. The words had hardly left her mouth when he grabbed one of her wrists, jerking hard. She flailed, filling her legs with chakra, trying to keep her upright position. Before she could regain her balance, his leg hooked around her ankle, jerking her down.

With a startled yelp, she redirected chakra to the palm of her hand. As she fell, she lashed out at his face which was directly above her.

An earsplitting slap echoed through the forest.

Sasuke released her, reeling back, the Sharingan spinning wildly. He'd seen her move coming, but even though he could predict it, he couldn't completely avoid it.

Sakura scrambled to her feet, smirking as her eyes traced the red finger marks on the Uchiha's left jaw line, all the way from his chin to the corner of his jaw.

'_Too bad I didn't hit him square in the face', _she mused wistfully.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he spat:

"What the hell was that for?"

The pinkette fought the urge to laugh.

"For being a bastard, dearest Sasuke-_kuuuun_," she chirped sweetly. The light, mocking tone was meant to enrage him, and it worked.

The Uchiha's lips thinned, his gaze intensifying, and his hands ran through the seals of Chidori at lightning speed. Sakura, personally, was amazed that he could execute the seals that fast.

When the sound of a thousand birds ripped through the air, she acted.

Her eyes were fierce as she hauled back, aimed, and yelled:

"Shannaro!"

Her blow smashed into the branch, completely splintering it as the wood buckled and blew into millions of tiny shards. Sasuke found himself falling through the air, and turned his body so that he'd land on his feet. His hand darted to his sword, pulling it free of its sheath with a grating, metallic sound.

Sakura landed opposite of him, her gaze narrowed.

"You can't tell me what to do, Uchiha Sasuke," she hissed. "I'm not helping you with a single mission of your bloody revenge. Got that?"

Chakra scalpels flickered to life, and she prayed that her theory would work. She increased the flow of chakra, ignoring her body as it screamed pain at her. She was straining herself, she knew, but there was no way that she'd let Sasuke just drag her around.

The scalpels that she used were very rough, not very well defined ones. They were as good as kunai attached firmly to her hands, except that they could cut through most anything.

With another battle cry, she launched herself at Sasuke, pink hair streaming behind her.

He raised his katana, blue lightning racing across its blade. He swung at Sakura, meaning to incapacitate her.

_Clang!_

Sasuke started, shock written across his face.

She'd… blocked his blow?

Her green eyes blinked away tears of pain as she gripped his sword one-handed. As long as she could grip the supposedly un-blockable blade, it was no problem to meet his swing with her monster strength.

She lunged forward, using his own blade as leverage, and grabbed his other hand tightly in her own, abandoning the scalpel in that one hand. Quickly, she used his hand for her own purposes, forming seals for a bunshin.

Sasuke jerked, but she held him fast. Right before she managed to finish the bunshin technique, he wrenched his sword from her and managed to hit her in the side with the flat of the blade.

She hissed as his chidori lanced up her side, shocking her, but she completed a clone right in that moment. Her bunshin leaped up behind Sasuke, coming down with a chakra-laden fist.

"Gotcha!" she yelled.

But Sasuke merely leaned to the side, letting the clone soar past him. He was getting kinda pissed now, and used his free hand to wrench her head back.

Emerald green eyes glared up at him, daring him to use the Sharingan.

'_Alright, if she's challenging me…' _

The tomoes in his eyes whirled, bringing her into a genjutsu world.

She stood on a smooth, black surface. Gazing around, she spotted a pair of glowing red eyes staring at her. They changed, growing smaller until they melted into Sasuke's face which appeared just then.

"Stop it, Sakura," he ordered flatly.

"No."

"Why won't you go along peacefully?" he growled.

Rage boiled up inside of her, thick, suffocating, and blazing red.

"_Go _with you?" she hissed. "_Peacefully_?! Quit fooling with me, you self-absorbed prick! Why won't I go with you? Use that pretty little head of yours to think for once, dammit! You're my enemy at the moment, Sasuke! Duh! So why would I go peacefully?"

"Why am I your enemy?" Sasuke deadpanned. He was trying to get her to talk – maybe she'd spill the beans then.

"Hm… let me see," Sakura pretended to think, then held up three fingers.

"First of all, you _left_ us, betraying Konoha in the process! Secondly, you've tried to kill Naruto _twice_, and me as well! And thirdly, I—"

She halted abruptly, turning white.

'… _That was too close', _she thought, heart pounding. _'I almost told him about Itachi…'_

"Thirdly?" he asked smoothly, staring at her. She couldn't avert her gaze, and it was driving her nuts to stare into his burning red eyes.

"… I… um… forgot," she worked to make her voice sound sheepish. It failed miserably.

'_Ouch, that was pathetic', _she winced.

As if he'd read her thoughts, Sasuke continued:

"That was just sad, Sakura."

"Glad to see you crying," she snapped.

"You've always been the weakest member of Team 7. I kept picking fights with Naruto because you're just not worth my time."

Agony flared inside of her, but she forced it down. In a level, even tone, she whispered:

"You're wrong."

"How so?" he smirked.

Her eyes slid shut, then opened. When they did, they blazed with loathing and a small spark of smug pride.

"I'm different now, you shithead."

With that, she called forth her second mind, using its untainted clarity to stop the flow of her own chakra for a split second. That second was all she needed to free herself from the genjutsu.

However, she opened her eyes to reality, it wasn't much better.

Suigetsu, Juugo and Karin crouched around her, eyeing her warily. Opposite to her, Sasuke struggled to his feet, breathing heavily. His expression was priceless – incredulous and startled.

Sakura immediately reached for her chakra, fully intent on batting Team Hebi away, but was stopped as she realized that she couldn't feel her chakra.

She frowned, scanning her system. Her heart plummeted.

Karin grinned at the other kunoichi's astonished gaze, and snickered:

"Yep, that's right, gaki. You can't unlock that damn chakra of yours until I release it." The redhead ignored Sakura's scathing look, and continued proudly:

"Apart from tracking chakra and sensing it in accurate distances, I am also an expert at blocking chakra. Your lapse when Sasuke-kun caught you in his genjutsu was enough time for me to shut your chakra network down."

Leaning in, she hissed so quietly that only Sakura heard her:

"And that's why Sasuke-kun wants _me _along, not you. You're only here because he perceives you as an annoyance to him."

The pinkette glowered at the redhead, before abruptly turning her face aside. She refused to look at Sasuke who came to a halt in front of her.

He gazed at her for a long moment, simply looking at her.

He hated to admit it, but… he didn't like seeing her lying there, looking so helpless. It brought back the genin days, days that he didn't want to remember.

The image of a younger Sakura being painfully squeezed by Sabaku no Gaara's sand flashed through his mind.

It would be a mistake on his part to not restrain her after she'd disobeyed him so many times. But he also didn't want Sakura at Karin's mercy… the thought did uncomfortable things to his mind.

Slowly, almost surreally, he formed a series of seals.

Sakura heard the telltale brush of hands which indicated a jutsu being executed.

'_What's he doing?' _she wondered with a touch of panic.

The next instant, cool fingers brushed the hollow between her collarbones.

With a cry, she jerked away, but it was already done. Strange, square black patterns flared over her skin, before fading away, retreating into a black square at her throat.

She could feel a stronger, denser block around her chakra now in addition to Karin's first one.

"Karin, release the chakra block," Sasuke's voice was sharp and hard.

The redhead flinched, snarling inwardly. Why was Sasuke protecting the bitch?

"But Sasuke-kun…!" she whined.

"Now."

Huffing, she formed a seal and ordered:

"Kai!"

Sakura felt the first block slide out of her system harshly, like a splinter being pulled from under your skin. It stung, but was over after a few seconds.

Karin stood as soon as the technique was completed, and flounced off angrily.

Suigetsu grinned as he watched the original Sound kunoichi retreat, and said:

"Seriously, Cherry, if you'd asked me before attacking Sasuke, I'd have said no and you could've saved yourself the trouble."

"Baka," Sakura hissed, standing as well. Her knees knocked together; they were shaking that much from the sudden absence of her chakra.

Regaining her balance, she wrinkled her nose as Sasuke ordered:

"Let's go. We've wasted time."

Sakura rolled her eyes and followed him reluctantly.

Now that she had time, she could take an inventory of her wounds.

Apart from her chakra being blocked, there was a small headache forming. That probably came from forcefully breaking out of the genjutsu. Also, her hand was burnt.

It took a second for her to remember, but then she realized that the burn came from catching Sasuke's katana, which had been streamed with chidori.

Also, her side hurt every time she took a breath, which resulted from being shocked by the blue lightning.

Soon enough, they were leaping through the trees again. Sakura was second last, and Karin was behind her. The position left Sakura feeling uncomfortable, since she was sure that the redhead wasn't feeling particularly kindly inclined towards her at the moment.

But why was Karin always so ill-tempered around her? Sakura mulled over the other kunoichi's furious reactions, searching for an answer.

Just as she was deciding to leave the case alone, Karin's voice echoed in her mind:

"_And that's why Sasuke-kun wants __**me**__ along, not you."_

A startled giggle burst through her lips, causing the males ahead of her to look at her curiously while Karin scowled.

Sakura didn't care, instead she laughed inwardly at her new discovery.

'_Karin's afraid that Sasuke likes me', _the pinkette mused. Another chuckle escaped her and she shook her head.

'_I don't know why she would think that, especially after Sasuke just fought with me and bound my chakra. Oh well, women have their own motives that they themselves don't understand.'_

She smiled, not noticing the odd gaze the Sasuke slanted at her.

XxXxX

Naruto was panicking.

Why?

Because… he was caught in Uchiha Itachi's genjutsu… yet again!

'_Crap', _he growled. _'I didn't even look in his eyes!'_

"Uzumaki, I just want to talk to you," Itachi's face and torso appeared in a mass of crows, floating across the blood-red sky.

"Fuck you," Naruto spat through gritted teeth. "What do you want?"

"I want to ask you a question."

Naruto stared at the elder Uchiha, wondering if he should refuse to cooperate. But… at the moment, he couldn't really tell what the question was, since Itachi hadn't asked yet.

"Fine."

"What will you do—" Itachi's gaze locked onto bright blue, "—if Sasuke attacks Konoha?"

Naruto's eyes widened to the size of teacups and he spluttered:

"What? Why are you fucking spewing such shit?"

Inwardly, Itachi chuckled at the cuss words.

'_Sakura…' _he thought. _'You're teammates are a bad influence when it comes to language.'_

"I'm not joking," he said out loud, "I'm serious, Naruto-kun. What would you do? Would you kill Sasuke?"

Naruto's spine snapped straight.

"No."

"But what if he plans on destroying Konoha? You'd have to kill him to stop him."

The sentence lingered in the air, and Naruto was silent. Itachi began to wonder if the Kyuubi Jinchuriki planned on answering, when the blonde blurted:

"I won't kill Sasuke, and I'll save Konoha anyways! Because…"

His face hardened with determination.

"… Because that's my Ninja Way, dattebayo!"

Silence.

Itachi couldn't deny the relief that washed through him. Naruto hadn't completely agreed to what Itachi was thinking about, but at least the boy was willing to protect Konoha.

Also, he felt a prickle of hope.

As he stared at the blonde shinobi, he could nearly feel the confidence and fierce loyalty radiating off of him.

Naruto gaped, wondering if his eyes were tricking him. Had Itachi just…?

Yes.

Uchiha Itachi had just _smiled_.

Then, all further thoughts were wiped from his mind as a crow jammed itself into his mouth, causing him to splutter and choke.

"I will give you a part of my strength, Uzumaki Naruto," Itachi's voice floated around him.

"I hope you will never need it."

With that, Itachi dispelled the illusion and warped himself away at the same time.

'_Between Naruto and Sakura…' _he thought, _'Sasuke will face two indestructible barriers. I only wish that this whole mess could have been avoided – I wish that Sasuke had the Will of Fire as well.'_

XxXxX

**A/N**

Sappy ending to this chapter – Itachi being such a loving brother. FUZZY!

I have received quite a few requests to keep Itachi alive… but I really can't promise anything. The story line has already been set, and I can't change my mind on the spot.

Speaking of Itachi… I read this awesome fic called _**With Every Beat **_by _**halfdemonfan**_**. **Go on, get outta here and read it! On the double! It's really good, and I bet you won't regret it.

Oh yeah… reviews please! I take x-tra interest in how you thought the fight scenes are. I struggle to make them passable, and if you can help me I'll be really grateful!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Wow, no new Japanese words. Ah well, that's okay, I guess. Now go and read _**With Every Beat!**_


	11. Chapter 11

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_She had an intelligent mind and a loving heart. Both were nearly shattered by his betrayal, but she pulled through, and may yet be ready to share them with him._

XxXxX

**Chapter 11**

A rough, rasping cough escaped through Sakura's gritted teeth.

'_This is worse than I thought', _she realized, one hand placed over her side. Sasuke's chidori had stung like crazy. And the one hand with the burn throbbed dully, clear blood serum leaking from her charred palm.

She had calmed down a bit since the fight in the morning, and she had yet to forgive Sasuke for running _Kakashi's_ technique through her. But now that she had come down a notch, she turned her attention back towards escape.

But to do that, she had to make sure that she could depend on her hands.

She held her hand up, examining the burn, and didn't notice Sasuke's eyes on her.

The Uchiha had glanced back when he'd heard her cough, and he realized that the pinkette was falling further and further behind. It seemed that he had put a little too much force into his raikiri…

"Stop."

His command rang through the air, and Team Hebi abruptly blew to a halt.

"Hell yeah, are we stopping for a bit?" Suigetsu asked. He pulled out his ever-present water bottle and took a huge gulp, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he added:

"I was just about to ask if we could take a break."

Karin's lip curled into a sneer as she said:

"Drop the damn sword, Suigetsu! It's just a burdening, dumb ol' thing anyways."

The ex-Mist nin's eyes narrowed at that and he retorted:

"No, it isn't. You just don't have any idea what it is."

Sasuke ignored their banter, instead focusing on Sakura and asking:

"Can you keep up?"

Sakura considered the question.

She could yell at him for insinuating that she was weak, or she could just save her breath and give a simple answer.

Deciding on the latter option, she replied:

"Aa, I can. I'm not that delicate, Sasuke."

The Uchiha gave her another measuring look, before nodding and signalling for them to keep going.

As she leaped through the branches behind Sasuke, Sakura wished that she could just scream and throw a temper tantrum. Honestly, she was horrified that she longed for such drastic measures, but she couldn't help it.

'_When was the last time I cried?' _she suddenly wondered. _'It was definitely not when Sasuke left… No, it was more like a year after Tsunade took me as her apprentice.'_

It had really been so long, then? She heaved a sigh and continued remembering.

'_That one time when Tsunade-sama found me in the emergency station, crying after a man died under my hands… Yeah, that was it. That was the last time I cried, as far as I can remember.'_

Wryly, she thought.

'_But I've never been so… so __**angry**__ before, either. Kami, I just want to scream until my lungs explode. Hehe, I wonder if that's possible…'_

She decided that if she ever got back to Konoha's library, she'd have to look it up.

XxXxX

They travelled on for about an hour, before Sasuke suddenly stopped. He watched as his team halted instantaneously around him, while Sakura took quite a while longer to first catch up and then stop.

He had been pretty sure that she had been lying when she said that she was fine, and now he one hundred percent sure that she was playing the tough girl. Well, she obviously wanted to make up for her lack in skill with stubbornness.

"Juugo, Suigetsu, Karin," he said, "You stay here. Sakura, come with me. Karin, if you sense Itachi anywhere, find me and report."

"Huh?" His team looked at him as if her were nuts.

"Why, Sasuke-kun?" Karin asked, her eyes flickering resentfully to Sakura. "If the bitch can't keep up, then we should just dump her. She'll only get in the way."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and he gave her a piercing, ice-cold glare that had Karin's knees trembling slightly, before he just brushed her question off and started forwards, expecting the pinkette to follow him. When he didn't hear her, he turned his head to give her a pinning stare.

She glared back, then sighed.

'_Maybe he'll kill you…' _a tiny voice in the back of her mind whispered, but she squashed it. If he wanted to kill her, then he would have done it in the presence of Team Hebi without distancing himself from them.

She trailed after him, and he made his way forwards again. Her brow crumpled as she racked her brain for a logical answer to his sudden departure. It made no sense for him to take her to… well, who knows where.

Shaking her head, she just followed him, wincing as her side burned.

XxXxX

Sasuke's searching gaze found something that he could use.

Stopping for a split second in front of the cave mouth, he waited for Sakura to join him before going inside. He didn't enter the huge grotto, the main cavern. His gaze flickered over the cave walls warily, before he deemed it safe and stopped.

Sakura had looked up when he halted, and to her surprise, Sasuke appeared next to her. Mistrust flowed freely through her, but that vanished as her former teammate muttered:

"How serious is the damage?"

For a moment, Sakura could only blink at him. Slowly, wary of any hidden traps there may be, she averted her gaze automatically from his and answered:

"Not too bad. But the electric shock has my nervous system sending me false information. Also, the burn on my hand should be at the very least scabbed over, otherwise there is a risk of infection. I can treat that, though—"

Sasuke's hand thrust into her field of vision interrupted her. With wide eyes, she watched as his chakra gathered in his hand.

"Here."

"What?"

"Use my chakra and heal yourself." He sounded irritated that she didn't catch on immediately.

"O… Oh…"

Carefully, she took his hand, shivering as their skin made contact. His hand was quite a bit larger than hers, rough, and calloused. There were even scars decorating his skin.

She hissed when his hand touched the burn on her palm, but she brushed off the pain in the same moment. Pain was something a kunoichi simply had to learn to deal with.

It felt strange to use Sasuke's chakra. Sometimes, she had had to use somebody else's energy, for example Tsunade's, to heal somebody in the hospital when there weren't any soldier pills within reach. But just knowing that this was _Sasuke_ caused goosebumps to march up her arms. It seemed as if his chakra burned with a dark undercurrent.

'_That's only psychological, Sakura', _she told herself. _'Calm down, calm down…'_

Inside, something warm prickled at the edges of her heart, and she was sure that if she hadn't tamed her Inner, then her second mind would be squealing like back in the fangirl days.

Sasuke watched with a small amount of fascination as his raw, dark chakra sewed up the blackened skin of Sakura's hand. He had been curious to see it done, and he was slightly surprised that even his own malevolent energy glowed green in the healing process.

The pink haired medic stopped as soon as new, shiny pink skin had grown over her hand. She started to remove his limb from her, when his voice interjected:

"Your nervous system."

Startled she looked up, meeting his eyes.

Sakura the calculating, cold kunoichi had said that maybe he was lending her his chakra to copy it with his Sharingan. But as she gazed at him, she realized that his eyes were still black.

Of course, that led to a whole new round of 'whys'.

Why had he just offered to heal her? Surely, a cold-hearted nuke nin like him couldn't spare any chakra for her? So why had he willingly given up a portion of his energy?

And further… the only way to clear her system from the remnants of the chidori, he'd have to touch the site of the injury itself.

She shook her head slightly to clear away her embarrassment and said quietly:

"If you want to repair my nervous system, you're going to have to… um…" her cheeks blushed red.

'_Keep going…' _she urged herself.

"… I'm going to have to lay your hand over my side." She pointed to a spot around her ribcage where he'd hit her with his lightning.

Sasuke's expression didn't change. She had no clue as to what he was thinking, but suddenly, he reached out and pressed his hand against her side.

Starbursts of tingling raced from the site of the injury all through her body. She flinched, startled, before regaining her composure. The warmth of his hand soaked through her shirt, whispering across her skin.

Swallowing, she placed her hand over his and directed his chakra to her nervous system. Pausing before she started, she warned:

"I may start jerking around a bit, or maybe even collapse. Could you, um, maybe hold me up?" Her voice was nervous and embarrassed at the same time.

"Hn."

She rolled her eyes at his answer. Was that a yes or a no? She was just about to tell him to forget about it, when his other arm snaked around her waist securely. Her eyes widened in disbelief.

Trying to squish the traitorous, happy, squealing voice in her head, she set to work, sending jolts of Sasuke's chakra into her nerve endings to synchronize them. It stung like fire, and she flailed in his grip.

When a particularly large burst of chakra hit a cluster of nerves, she jerked, hard, and a whimper escaped through her teeth. There was a metallic taste in her mouth, and she fought to keep herself from biting her tongue.

And then it was over.

Heaving a sigh of relief, she opened her eyes – she hadn't noticed that she'd closed them – and looked at Sasuke.

"Thanks."

He didn't answer, his gaze glued to the far wall. She strained her neck, trying to get a look at his face. Was it just her imagination, or was there a red haze creeping up his neck?

For a moment, there was a pause, an awkward silence, and then she said:

"Um… you can let me go now, Sasuke."

His hold on her loosened, and she had to brace her legs slightly apart as she wobbled. This was the second time she'd had to buzz her nerve endings, and just like she remembered, it was painful.

He looked at her, the inquiry on her health at the tip of his tongue. He almost asked, but when her large green eyes – dark in the shadows of the cave – gazed up at him, he nearly bit his tongue. Their gazes locked, and he felt a warm tingle rush through his veins.

'_Why do I feel this way?'_ he wondered. In any case, he didn't understand it – and what he didn't understand discomforted him.

Jerking away from the eye contact, he said harshly:

"Let's go."

She followed with a huge bubble of curiosity and confusion welling up inside of her.

Ever since she'd first bumped into him when he was fighting Deidara, she had had the feeling that somehow there was a block behind those eyes of his. Even though he could deliver the coldest, most unfeeling glares, there was some sort of unbreakable wall between what he _showed_… and what he _felt_.

But that gaze he had just given her… it was neither cold nor guarded. And in those deep, deep black eyes of his, she thought she had glimpsed a tiny shred of warmth. And that warmth sparked a flame of hope inside of her.

But the warmth had been tainted by suffering. Long, deep suffering. And now that she knew about the Uchiha massacre's secret, it pained her all the more to know that she knew the truth and couldn't reveal it to him. After all, she was starting to understand how Itachi thought that Sasuke could go mad with grief. The younger Uchiha was just too unpredictable.

Her heart beat faster and faster as she remembered the look in his eyes. Pain, exhaustion… and a wordless beg for answers.

Before she could stop herself, her mouth opened and her voice drifted softly through the tunnel:

"Why didn't you kill Naruto…?"

Silence.

Sasuke's shoulders had gone tense and rigid, and he stopped. He heard her halt abruptly too, her eyes on him. His hands trembled very faintly, and he clenched them into fists to hide the fact.

He didn't answer, and she continued, soft as a whisper:

"You had the chance twice, you know."

"Aa."

"So why didn't you kill him?"

Sasuke glared at the cave entrance, wishing that she was not asking her these things. But as the silence lengthened, he could practically feel her agitation growing.

With an angry curse, he whipped around, his eyes narrowed into a fierce glare. With two strides, he was standing in front of her, staring down at her petite form. She gazed back up, her own eyes showing no fear.

"I won't answer that," he spat.

"Oh yes you will!" Sakura's stubborn, arguing side was up and rapidly rising.

"Naruto has been through _hell _because of you! I want an answer! All I need to know is the friggin' _reason_ and that's _is_!"

Sasuke scowled at her. She was still so annoying!

He could feel his chakra boiling inside of him at her ferocious glare, challenging his rank and skill in the shinobi world. He needed to calm himself now, before he actually did something to hurt her.

Turning, he was fully intent on stalking out, when a signature flared behind him.

His entire body tensed, every muscle coiling in shock.

That chakra was unmistakable.

He whipped around, one arm almost knocking Sakura behind him in a reflex gesture to protect her.

"So… you came." A dark voice drifted lazily through the cave.

"Who's there?" Sasuke growled.

At the far end of the cave, the figure of a man slowly came into view from the shadows. It looked like a man wearing a cloak…

Glowing red eyes slowly opened.

'_Itachi!' _Sasuke's jaw locked so tightly he heard his teeth creak.

"Could it be that you've gotten taller?" Itachi's voice floated across the distance, softly, mockingly.

Sasuke didn't answer, instead focusing all his hate and rage at the man who had ruined his life.

Slowly, he stepped from around the corner to face his brother.

Sakura felt a cold shiver run down her spine.

'_That look on his face… Kaka-sensei, you said correctly that hate is a truly terrifying feeling.'_

"Aren't you going to run at me screaming like last time?" Itachi's voice broke into her thoughts.

"You don't know anything about me," came Sasuke's low reply.

Sakura stared at Itachi, desperation in her gaze. Surely he didn't really mean to be killed right here and now…?

Itachi's eyes flickered to hers for a tiny fraction of a second. Sakura's lips thinned as she read the apologetic, regretful look in his eyes.

"Tch… you brought a little side-kick, didn't you, otouto?" he murmured.

Sasuke's gaze hardened, and in the next second, he had flashed to the far side of the cave, behind Itachi, his Chidori Nagashi running off of his fist.

Sakura froze in horror as the crackling blue blade impaled Itachi, erupting in the middle of his chest.

"She's on my team," Sasuke hissed.

The sentence sounded so strange, the way he put it. Automatically, she denied it, saying:

"Hey! I didn't agree to that!"

"Shut up!" he shot back.

Itachi chuckled, but his laughter turned into a cough. Slanting his gaze down to Sasuke, he rasped:

"You've become stronger…"

Then his body exploded into a cloud of crows. The birds cawed angrily, hungrily, and circled high above Sasuke.

Itachi's disjoined voice echoed through the cave:

"Come to the Uchiha hideout. We will settle things there."

XxXxX

Sakura kept her mouth shut as Team Hebi raced through the trees. It seemed like Sasuke had forgotten the Konoha team on his heels; he was focused solely at getting to this 'Uchiha hideout'.

The pinkette leapt next to him, her sides burning because of the crazy pace, and glanced once quickly at his face.

Right away, she looked away again.

His eyes… were closed off again. Blocked. Guarded.

Cold.

'_Itachi… your plan was not quite successful', _she thought mournfully. _'You got him stronger, okay, but now he's hell bent on killing you – his own brother!' _Shuddering, the medic dropped back a bit so that she was slightly behind Sasuke. He probably didn't even notice.

Suddenly, Sasuke tensed, his head whipping from side to side, searching. And before long, Sakura heard what he was looking for.

"Saaaaaaasuke!" came the furious bellow.

"Oh, for heaven's sake…" Sakura moaned, rubbing her temples. She could just feel the headache coming up.

"What is it, Cherry?" Suigetsu piped up.

"I'm gonna kill that idiot," Sakura growled as she saw an achingly familiar blonde dash towards them head-on.

Suigetsu glanced where she did, then chuckled:

"You may not have to. Sasuke's gonna do it."

"What?!" Sakura's head snapped up, and to her horror, she saw Sasuke lunge forward, a chidori in hand…

"NO, Sasuke! STOP!" she screamed.

Sasuke's body flinched as her cry rang out. There was only three yards between him and Naruto… But her plea sliced through the air and he reacted instinctively, trying to pull up.

It was a futile attempt.

His speed was too great, and he was too close to Naruto already.

His hand punched through the blonde's stomach effortlessly, and the Kyuubi Jinchuriki yelled, choking as blood rushed through his lungs.

…

Everything seemed to stand still.

…

Then,

_Bang!_

Sakura nearly cried with relief as Naruto's body dissolved into smoke.

'_Thank goodness', _she gasped. _'It was just a Shadow Clone.'_

Her gaze whipped to Sasuke, who stood motionlessly, facing away from her.

Sakura's heart squeezed as she remembered his reluctance to answer when she asked him why he hadn't killed Naruto. The scene of him attacking her blonde friend replayed over and over in her mind, creating a sick video. She cringed, shutting her eyes, frantically trying to stem the flow of memories.

Sasuke, on his part, pushed away the memory of Sakura's low voice.

"_Why didn't you kill Naruto? You had the chance twice, you know. So why didn't you kill him?"_

He knew why: moments of weakness. His own damned, shitty weakness. He argued that if he had killed Naruto before, at the Valley of End, then it would be a dishonourable kill. Naruto had been unconscious then.

And at the Sound base… well, he had drawn out his attack, it was true. But he told himself that it was to savour the moment. Not to give Naruto a chance to escape.

'… _I don't want to think about this', _he thought, gritting his teeth.

"Keep going," he ordered sharply, setting off again. He pushed the recent confrontation out of his mind, focusing on Itachi's challenge instead.

He didn't want to think about his would-have-been fatal blow to the supposedly real blonde shinobi. He feared that if he thought about it too much, he'd find that he had made the wrong decision.

XxXxX

"I've found him!" Naruto hollered. "And Sakura's also with him!"

"What? Where?" Kakashi asked. "Did Sakura look alright?"

"She might have had her chakra suppressed – I couldn't feel her signature until really close."

"Then take us to them, and quickly!"

"Alright, follow me!" the blonde yelled, leaping off.

As the search party streamed out behind him, Naruto gulped and tried to suppress the lingering horror in his gut.

Sasuke had impaled his Shadow Clone without hesitation. If the Clone had been him, he would have been killed.

Naruto's jaw clenched, and he thought:

'_Damn it, Sasuke! What happened to you…?!'_

XxXxX

A whoosh of a cloak and a clatter of shoes was Kisame Hoshigaki's grand entrance.

"Sasuke-kun, please leave your team here. Itachi-san wants to settled things between you two alone," the blue nin drawled.

Sasuke's gaze narrowed, and he ordered:

"All of you stay here."

"What?" Karin screeched.

Suigetsu and Juugo protested in their own ways, but Sakura just snorted, attracting Sasuke's attention.

"Geez, he's making it so melodramatic," she muttered, thinking of Itachi.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. It just seemed strange to him that Sakura would comment on Itachi's challenge in an almost… fond way. For her, at any rate.

He shook the thought off, and flashed away, past Kisame.

Sakura let out a strangled curse when Sasuke disappeared. What was she going to do now? Kisame was _right there_, and she wanted to just attack him. He was, after all, an Akatsuki, and her deep ingrained instincts urged her to pulverize him.

'_Steady, steady…' _she told herself.

"Hoshigaki Kisame, eh?" Suigetsu's voice interrupted her thoughts. The ex-Mist nin tugged at the handle of the Executioner's Blade at his back.

"Do you remember me? Hozuki Suigetsu?"

"Hozuki… hm…" Kisame thought for a bit, then grinned, shark-like.

"I remember. You're that little brat, that brother of Hozuki Mangetsu. I thought I killed you."

"Well, obviously you didn't," Suigetsu answered, pulling his sword out.

"I hate waiting," he told the blue skinned Akatsuki. "How about we entertain ourselves in the meantime…?"

Faster than lightning, Kisame was on his feet.

"Bring it!"

"Dear Kami-sama…" Sakura sighed. "I'm not involving myself."

Karin's irritation was written over her face, and she agreed, surprisingly, with Sakura.

"You're such an idiot, Suigetsu," she said scathingly. "I'm not helping you one bit, moron!"

"Neither am I," Juugo said quietly. "Suigetsu, give it a rest."

The white haired nin look at the three of them, then snorted.

"I don't need your help, Karin," he sneered. "And Juugo, just keep out of this. Cherry, you too."

A vein popped into existence on Sakura's forehead, and she hissed:

"I just said I wouldn't, you shitface!"

Suigetsu didn't answer, his gaze locked onto Kisame.

Sakura sighed, and surprised herself by tugging on Juugo and Karin's sleeves.

"C'mon, let's get outta here. We can leave Suigetsu to sort things out by himself."

"Whatever," Karin grumbled, stalking off, bumping past Sakura rudely.

Juugo followed behind at a slower pace, walking next to Sakura. They didn't go far; the pinkette insisted that they stay within sight of the fight between the two ex-Mist nins. As much as she despised having to travel with nuke nins, she couldn't deny that she wanted to be able to aid Suigetsu if he got stuck.

"Sakura-san?" She turned to see Juugo looking at her questioningly.

She gave him an apologetic smile, before saying:  
"I want to stay around here, in case Suigetsu gets into deeper trouble than he already is."

"Oh…"

They sat in silence. Sakura almost didn't notice when Karin came to sit a little distance away from them, her gaze as usual sullen. But her eyes weren't the normal 'I'm-just-pissed-that-Sasuke's-not-here' look, instead, she seemed slightly resigned.

Sakura turned her attention towards Juugo. She had to tell him something, or her conscience would drive her nuts.

"Juugo?"

"Aa?"

"About before… in the room where Sasuke rested up… I'm sorry for yelling at you."

Juugo blinked in surprise, his eyes goin to her face. She looked… rather guilty.

"It's okay," he finally said. "I don't mind. It's nothing compared to what I… sometimes do."

"I understand," she gave him a small smile, surprising him further. "Tell me again – why do you go berserk all of the sudden?"

With a sigh, he said:

"I have the origin of all of Orochimaru's curse marks. It's always been with me – it probably was some sort of mutation. I've had it since I was born. Sometimes, when I lose control of this curse, I lose my hold on myself. Then I mutate into a… a monster and try to kill everybody I see."

There was a long silence, then Sakura gave a small sigh and said:

"You don't have to feel too bad. I may not do anything as cool as mutating, but I, um, have the tendency to punch things when I'm mad."

Juugo smiled, and answered:

"Punching is rather harmless, Sakura-san."

"Drop the suffix."

"Sakura."

"Good. And about the punching thing…" Sakura smirked. "It is not at all harmless."

Juugo and Karin both raised an eyebrow.

The pinkette stood and curled her delicate looking hand into a fist. She tested her chakra, grimacing at the low level.

"It won't be the usual, but it'll have to do," she told them both. Then she smashed her fist into the ground.

It shook, rumbling threateningly under their feet. Cracks appeared around her fist, before a crater formed from her blow.

Juugo's mouth worked at the hole in the ground, and Karin's eyes were wide.

'_That chakra control,' _the redhead realized with shock, _'is nearly as good as mine!'_

Sakura sniffed, her nose wrinkling in distaste at the crater.

"It's way smaller than it should be," she complain to nobody in particular. She cringed, thinking of what Tsunade would say to her if she were here.

"I think it's impressive, Sakura," Juugo offered.

"Aw, thanks, that's so sweet!" Sakura smiled. "Although I wonder why you guys are so shocked – I punched the tree branch like this when I fought Sasuke."

"That was wood," Juugo reminded her.

She grinned and sat down again, when to her great surprise, Karin spoke to her.

"How do you gather that much chakra in only one limb?" the redhead asked. There was no trace of malice in her tone, just a touch of irritation and true curiosity.

"You mean why my hand isn't blowing up?" Sakura asked, just to make sure. Seeing Karin's nod, she explained:

"I can keep all the chakra focused mainly in the bones at the muscles, not the flesh in between. And I keep it away from any blood vessels or nerve endings – that would hurt me and damage the tissue."

Karin gave a jerky bob of a nod, looking away. Grudgingly, she said:

"You must have trained hard to do that."

Sakura blinked, still not able to believe that she was having a civilized conversation with the redhead.

"Aa, I did," she said quietly. "But I had motivation." Her thoughts circled to Sasuke.

Juugo spoke up now.

"What kind of motivation?"

The pinkette shuddered, and suddenly she was on her feet, walking away.

"I'm not ready to answer all of your questions, Juugo, Karin," she called back at them. "I'm sorry, I'm going to check up on Suigetsu."

Not even giving them a chance to answer, she fled in the direction of the fight she could clearly hear.

She didn't want to get close to them – they were traitors! Outlaws! Criminals!

… But they were also people, and she had always had a heart for that.

XxXxX

Sasuke surveyed the weathered, worn archway that led into the Uchiha hideout. His eyes traced the fading letters that had been chiselled into the stone, reading:

_To all who do not know the sign of the Fan and the Red Crescent Moon, then behold: We are the Uchiha._

Sasuke's face tightened.

His famed, proud clan would be avenged today. He was determined to win.

As he gazed at the sentence in the doorway, he wondered what the 'Red Crescent Moon' was. He knew that the upper part of the Uchiha fan was a red half-moon, but what did it symbolize?

Taking a deep breath, Sasuke walked through the doorway, a feeling of responsibility washing over him. He was an Uchiha – he could walk under the proud archway with no shame. He was allowed to, by ancestry and blood. But with the honour came the task of taking his clan's murderer down.

He was Uchiha Sasuke.

The Avenger.

XxXxX

**A/N**

I couldn't help adding that last part. I want to show a bit of how Sasuke's struggling to cope with all the weight across his own shoulders.

Hope you liked it! If there's anything you _don't _like, feel free to tell me it. I make mistakes and I seriously don't mind if you point them out. I repeat: I am open to critic!

So yeah… please review!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Chidori Nagashi – Chidori Stream (Don't tell me you don't know what 'chidori' is.)

…

(Chidori – comes from 'chi' – a thousand—and 'dori = tori' – bird )


	12. Chapter 12

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_If one cannot love, then one cannot live._

XxXxX

**A/N**

I have to warn you guys before you start reading: this chapter is Canon, and if you know Sasuke and Itachi's fight by heart, then this can get very tedious. I wanted to write the fight as close as possible to the real manga, with the exception of Sakura.

So yeah… if you don't mind reading the exact details of the battle, then you probably won't get bored. And otherwise… sorry if things start getting very long.

Enjoy!

XxXxX

**Chapter 12**

Naruto's gaze had narrowed into concentrated slits as he flashed forwards. His field of vision had become so small, that when something bright orange and black practically leaped into his face he yelled and flailed, falling to the ground with a thud.

"What the—!" the blonde exclaimed.

"No further!" the orange and black thing said cheerfully. Naruto looked again, and realized that it was a man with an orange spiral mask. But what's more…

"You're Akatsuki!" Naruto yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the man.

"He's not in any intel we have," Kakashi remarked, coming up. His voice was tight with worry.

"That's because I'm new!" the man waved. "I'm Tobi; pleased to meet you all!"

"Who the hell is he?" Kiba muttered, sliding to a stop.

As the rest of the Konoha squad halted, staring up at the Akatsuki member, Madara felt impatience. He wanted to get this over with… but as he looked them over, he realized that one of them was the Kyuubi Jinchuriki. And Sasuke's former teammate, no less.

'_Should I leave him alive or not…?' _the Uchiha mused. _'I could take him along right now, and that would solve a lot of problems… but he could prove useful when Sasuke's with me later on.'_

The desire to fight and kill these worthless Konoha rats warred with the thought of Sasuke proving his future loyalty to the Akatsuki. Weighing the two decisions, Madara decided to leave them alive.

But that didn't mean he couldn't have any fun.

Chuckling inside, he spread his arms, ignoring the two shadow clones that the Kyuubi boy sent up into the air behind him.

"Seven against one," wailed 'Tobi'. "That's hardly fair, is it?"

He hadn't seriously fought anybody for a long time. He had probably gotten rusty in his jutsus, so this half-threatening clash was quite welcome.

'_Time for warming up'_, Madara smirked.

XxXxX

Sakura watched with mild interest as Suigetsu swung at Kisame, only to have his lunge parried neatly by Samehada. She wondered why the white haired water nin didn't engage in close combat – that's what swords are for, right? But Suigetsu kept his distance, only exchanging fleeting, shallow swings with Kisame.

The pinkette kept her gaze mostly on the blue Akatsuki member, though, memorizing and analyzing his fighting patterns. If she could ever get back to Konoha in time, then she could deliver intel on Kisame to Tsunade.

Hearing a loud curse, she glanced at Suigetsu. He clutched his arm which was bulging with muscle. Sakura had learned early on that since Suigetsu was practically made out of water, he could reform muscles and other tissue in… unnatural places. Her medic instincts just balked at the idea of having such a huge lump at the biceps.

Sakura bit her lip, watching the fight. It was pretty boring, in her opinion – she had seen much scarier battles. But she kept her eyes glued to the violence to suppress the growing feeling of nausea in her gut. She knew exactly why…

'_Itachi and Sasuke are going to fight each other', _she swallowed. _'And I'm stuck here… what can I do? What can I do?'_

As her mind went around in circles, she remembered something.

Her eyes flew open wide, and she smacked herself in the face for not thinking about it right away.

'_I'm such an idiot!'_

Casting a quick glance around, she saw that Juugo and Karin were still sitting where they had before. The large orange haired man was covered in his feathery friends, and Karin was brooding, her knees pulled up to her chin.

And Suigetsu was busy, obviously.

Instantly, Sakura sprang into action.

Delving into her second mind, she burst out of the confines of her body, surging towards Sasuke. She could 'see' her ex-teammate's life force as a bright light. And he was nearing another light, which was Itachi.

She pushed herself faster speeding into the building right behind Sasuke. As she flashed past him, he stopped abruptly, whipping his head around searchingly. Inwardly, she cursed. She'd have to be careful not to let anybody notice her from now on.

XxXxX

Sasuke swore that something… strange had just brushed him, but he didn't know what. Looking around, he activated his Sharingan.

Nothing.

Still suspicious, he let his eyes sink back into black. His guard was still up as he paced into the main room, his steps slow and deliberate.

There, sitting across the hall from him, was the person that he had been hunting for so many years.

Uchiha Itachi.

There was a long, tense silence, and then Itachi asked softly:

"That Sharingan," he paused, "How much can you actually see with them?"

Sasuke's footsteps seemed unnaturally loud in the silence.

"How much I can see?" He finally stopped, about three dozen yards away from his brother.

"What I can see right now, Itachi…" Sasuke's gaze narrowed.

"… is your death!"

Itachi just looked at him calmly, then stated haughtily:

"My death, huh? Well then…"

A gust of wind made the hem of Sasuke's cloak flutter, and then Itachi's voice spoke from behind him:

"… make it happen."

A small vicious smirk curled on Sasuke's lips.

It was time.

XxXxX

'_This is bad'_, Sakura thought, alarmed. As she hovered in the air, she saw that neither Sasuke nor Itachi were moving. Her ex-teammate was standing stock still in the middle of the room, and the other sat in a relaxed posture on a blocky stone seat.

'_They're probably casting genjutsu after genjutsu on one another', _she realized.

Forging her second mind into something like a needle, she slipped into Uchiha Itachi's mind.

He noticed her presence right away, and his mind automatically tried to jerk back. Quickly, she said:

"_Itachi-san, it's just me, Sakura."_

He arched an eyebrow, making sure not to disturb his genjutsu.

"_If you wish to speak", _Sakura continued, _"Then just think your answers. I'll hear them."_

Itachi couldn't suppress his curiosity, and thought:

"_How can you hear my thoughts?"_

"_Because", _she sounded sort of smug, _"I am in your mind."_

"_No way…"_ Itachi shook his head.

"_Believe it, Itachi-san," _she smiled inwardly. But her smile faded as she considered what was happening.

"_Itachi… you don't really mean for Sasuke to kill you? Right, Itachi?" _her tone sounded desperate.

He stayed silent.

"_Right…?" _she swallowed.

When he still didn't answer, she felt her body quiver.

"_I can't let you!" _she suddenly cried. _"I won't allow that!"_

At once, Itachi stiffened and he answered:

"_You cannot stop me."_

"_Oh yes, I can!"_ Sakura shrilled. _"I could make you use a transportation jutsu right now and make you escape!"_

She felt flat disbelief emanate from him.

"_You can't."_

"_I can."_

"… _No, I don't think so."_

"_What you think is wrong!" _she answered. _"I can really make your body move on my command."_

Itachi just didn't believe her! Frustrated, she decided to demonstrate. Her second mind rushed to the controls that steered Itachi's movements, and suddenly, he found that his hand came up all by itself. His eyes barely had time to widen before his own fist socked him in the jaw.

"_Believe me now?" _Sakura asked, irritated. _"I'm sorry that I had to punch you, Itachi-san."_

Gingerly, he moved to feel the growing bruise on his jaw and scowled.

"_Congratulations, kunoichi," _he sighed. _"Now Sasuke will know that something's up."_

"_No, he won't." _Using her mind to manipulate Itachi's movements again, she used his body like her own and moulded his chakra with her knowledge of medic ninjutsu. Green chakra formed around Itachi's hand, and again his hand came up, only to heal the bruise that was swelling over his skin. Then she let go.

"_Impressive," _Itachi thought distractedly. He was focusing on Sasuke, whose gaze was slowly starting to become aware again. That meant that he was coming out of the genjutsu. Swiftly, Itachi cast another one. It would hardly be a challenge for Sasuke, but he wanted to give the impression that he was underestimating his otouto to enrage him.

"_Sakura, you should leave," _Itachi suggested – no, more like ordered.

"_I won't," _she replied immediately. _"I'm staying."_

"_Will you interfere?" _he asked sharply.

Sakura thought about.

If she interrupted the fight by making Itachi run, then things wouldn't change. All it would do is stall things, but that wouldn't help at all.

She could also tell Sasuke the truth right here and now… but she doubted that he would listen. His goal was right in front of him, and he wouldn't be persuaded easily right now.

None of her options would truly work.

Itachi felt her determination faltering, and he waited patiently for her decision. He was still rather stunned that she could control him, manipulate him through some unknown kekkai genkai, but he trusted that she wouldn't do anything stupid. She had promised not to tell Sasuke the truth…

Okay, he didn't know why he trusted her. He just did. As he felt her decision, he asked:

"_And?"_

"…" she took a deep breath, and then said quietly:

"_I can't do anything to stop you. If I forced you to my will, that would be wrong. It is undeniably a bad thing to ignore a person's wishes. But…" _her voice grew quieter still, _"I request that I am allowed to stay here, in your mind, for the fight."_

"_Why?"_

Sakura hesitated at that thought. Yes, why, actually?

"_To make sure that you won't kill Sasuke," _she lied.

"_Sakura," _there was dry humour in Itachi's voice. _"You know that I'll be downplaying my attacks. I want Sasuke to survive. Do you think I would have gone through all this trouble otherwise?"_

"…" she felt stupid. But she didn't want to tell him the actual reason…

"_I can't answer that," _she said, _"But can I stay?"_

Swallowing, she felt her body shiver.

The reason was… she wanted to be with Itachi in the last moments of his life. She wanted to be there when he left this world. Criminal nuke nin or no, she had grown to rather like Itachi, and she wanted to stay with him as long as possible.

As she remained silent, Itachi focused on Sasuke. The silence dragged on and on and Sakura began to worry that he would tell her to leave, but then he whispered:

"_Aa. You may stay."_

"_Thank you so much," _she breathed.

He might have answered, but the genjutsu battle interrupted any words.

Now that Sakura was in Itachi's mind, she could watch the genjutsu along with him. She winced as Sasuke impaled his aniki's genjutsu self, the blade cleanly slicing its way through the fake body.

"I said I have one last question, you bastard!" Sasuke seethed.

The genjutsu Itachi coughed up blood, and stayed silent.

"That night… You said there was another Uchiha survivor with the Mangekyou Sharingan," the younger Uchiha brother continued. "Who was that other one?"

"Why the curiosity?" Itachi asked back.

"Because after I finish you, I'm going to kill him as well!" Sasuke's voice was cold. Sakura shuddered, thinking:

'_Damn, Sasuke, why is it that all you want to do is kill people?'_

"Even you couldn't have killed the entire Clan," Sasuke went on, "So the other survivor must have been your accomplice."

"Hn… so you figured it out," Itachi smirked.

"Who was it?" Sasuke asked, losing patience.

There was a long silence.

Then,

"Uchiha… Madara."

XxXxX

"What?!" Sasuke's eyes flew open wide, before he narrowed them.

"No way!" he spat, "Uchiha Madara is long dead! Are you mocking me?!"

Sakura swallowed, remembering just how close Madara had come to killing her. As she remembered the incident, she forgot that she was in Itachi's mind. She lost track of the conversation as the genjutsu Itachi explained in a mocking tone what the difference between 'illusions' and 'reality' was.

"_Ugh… Madara is so creepy," _Sakura mentally grimaced with disgust.

"_So he almost had you…" _Itachi mused, startling her.

"_Whoops, I forgot you can hear me," _she thought sheepishly. _"But yeah… he really did."_

Any other thoughts were again interrupted when Sasuke whirled around, his lightning blade sweeping through the air to bury itself right next to the real Itachi's face.

"My eyes are different from before!" Sasuke snarled as the remnants of the genjutsu faded.

"I can see through genjutsu now, bastard!"

Itachi smirked, and said:

"You speak with such confidence… but this time, I'll take your word."

They stared each other down, and then Sasuke suggested in an icy tone:

"Why don't we end this little charade and get serious?"

"Being confident is fine," Itachi continued as if his otouto hadn't spoken, "but Sasuke, your eyes are still not the same as mine. So, I take it that you didn't manage to kill your best friend."

"_No!" _Sakura spluttered. _"Why are you planting these ideas in his head?!"_

"_They are necessary," _Itachi said shortly. Outwardly, he showed no sign of his conversation with Sakura, and went on in the same even tone:

"Yet you dare to stand before me with such weak resolve."

"Then try to kill me with your Mangekyou!" Sasuke challenged. "Or is it too hard to test your capabilities against me?" That was pure mockery.

Itachi closed his eyes and sighed, as if he were patiently waiting for a little child to snap out of its temper tantrum.

"You're pretty sure of yourself," he sighed, uncrossing his legs and standing up.

Sakura's interest turned from the fight to the ceiling. She swore she'd seen something there through Itachi's eyes…

"_Whoa!" _she exclaimed. _"There's somebody watching us!"_

"_Who?" _Itachi asked quickly, slightly alarmed.

Sakura sent an image of a half black, half white face that was peering at them from the ceiling.

"_Oh,"_ Itachi grimaced. _"That's Zetsu. Madara sent him, no doubt."_

"_Are you going to do something about him?"_

"_I can't," _Itachi admitted. _"It would alarm Madara that I'm planning something."_

"_Too bad…"_ Sakura glared at the bi-coloured face. _"He's creepy."_

She watched as the two Uchiha brothers stared each other down, but felt a tug at her thoughts. Focusing on her main mind, she realized that her body was just about to get battered by a huge wall of water from Kisame. Quickly, she leaped out of the way, landing in a tree nearby. A spray of water hit her square in the face and she spluttered indignantly.

Squinting through her soaked bangs, she watched as Suigetsu backed away from Kisame, breathing heavily. The blue Akatsuki member grinned and chuckled:

"Fine, so you know about Samehada's chakra-eating properties. But you won't get away!"

Dashing forwards, he raised his sword to bring it down on Suigetsu's shoulder. The white haired nin scrambled to get back, but Kisame stretched out a leg and tripped him.

Sakura sighed, watching. This was quite confusing. On the one hand, Suigetsu and Kisame were fighting in front of her body. And on the other hand, she was practically Itachi, feeling his movements and seeing what he was seeing. It was incredibly disorienting with her consciousness in two different bodies.

'_Kami, I'm getting a headache', _she groaned, seeing Suigetsu lunge forward and at the same time hearing Itachi pretend to get all worked up by telling Sasuke that he was going to take his eyes.

"_This is so complicated," _she grumbled at Itachi.

"_Urusai, I'm concentrating," _Itachi ordered.

Sighing, she complied and listened as he yelled:

"Madara is weak, and will never have a chance to become the strongest shinobi in the world! But I have that chance! I am the only one who can surpass Madara. Now, come to me, otouto, and give me your eyes!"

"_Itachi, if I may say so, you make a very convincing psychopath," _Sakura said sourly.

"_Why, thank you," _Itachi answered as he watched Sasuke unwind the bandages around his arms and forehead, casting away his cloak as well. The younger Uchiha's face was stony, his eyes closed.

"Use your eyes as much as you like," Sasuke said with contempt, his eyes opening, "but your reality is death!"

With that, he touched his fingers to two seals tattooed to his lower arms, summoning two shuriken. He threw them, and more, and Itachi whipped out his own metal stars to counter them. Sakura was fascinated as she saw through the Sharingan eyes of Itachi. The shuriken moved in slow motion, and she could feel how easy it was for Itachi to answer each throw of Sasuke's with the same kind of weapon.

'_Heh, if only it were this easy for me', _she thought. Itachi was concentrating on the shuriken barrage and didn't answer.

Finally, Sasuke and Itachi lunged forwards at the same time, and as each one tried to impale the other, they both blocked the blow aimed at them.

'_Yep, really confusing', _Sakura sighed.

Itachi's eyes seemed to throb with pain, and the pinkette inside his mind yelped:

"_Hey, hey! Why the heck do your eyes hurt?" _she winced as the pain reverberated through her own skull.

"_I'm casting Tsukuyomi, now be quiet!" _Itachi answered curtly.

Sakura strained to watch what was happening in the advanced genjutsu, but saw nothing.

"_Itachi?" _she asked worriedly, _"I can't see what's going on."_

She felt curiosity emit from the Uchiha, and he showed her a scene of Sasuke's curse mark swelling horribly, only to split open. A snake shot out, winding around him.

But Sakura wasn't actually watching the genjutsu – she was watching Itachi's memories of what he had cast.

"_How come I can't see your Tsukuyomi? Even though I'm in your mind…?" _she wondered.

Maybe this was some property of the Tsukuyomi. Though she was sharing Itachi's thoughts, she was a foreign presence in his mind and so couldn't watch the advanced genjutsu.

She was about to tell her theory to Itachi when Sasuke suddenly started yelling bloody murder.

"_What are you doing to him?!" _she yelled.

"_It's just genjutsu, relax," _Itachi sounded irritated.

Suddenly, scalding pain shot through his left eye. He flinched, just as Sasuke's eyes refocused on his surroundings. Then, breathing heavily, the younger Uchiha lurched and fell to his knees.

At the same time, Itachi slapped a hand over his left eye. His vision was blurring terribly, and his legs gave way. He fell to his knees with a _thud_, shocked.

"_He… He…"_ Sakura strained to get a coherent thought from him, but all she felt was wordless pride.

"_What happened?"_

"_He broke out of Tsukuyomi!" _Itachi managed to answer, smugness radiating off of his thoughts.

"Sasuke… you broke through Tsukuyomi?" he asked out loud.

His younger brother stood slowly, smirking.

For a long moment, they measured each other with their eyes, weighing each other's strength.

"_It's time to get serious," _Itachi said grimly.

"_Eh? You weren't serious before?" _Sakura asked, disoriented.

Suddenly, Itachi leaned forwards, his hands running through seals. Sakura's thoughts froze for a second as she processed the speed. What's more, it felt as if her own hands were forming the handsigns that quickly.

"_Wow,"_ she thought.

But Sasuke obviously wasn't going to let Itachi execute any ninjutsu. He summoned a fuuma shuriken, launching it at Itachi with a hoarse cry.

Sakura felt Itachi's realization that there was another windmill shuriken hiding in the shadow of the first one. Pushing off, he leaped forwards in a flat dive, only to hear wires snapping tight behind him.

"_A rigged shuriken?!" _he thought, alarmed. _"Sakura, brace yourself!"_

"_Crap!" _she cussed.

The shuriken split apart, sending the blades flying in all directions. One of them hit Itachi in the thigh, causing him to fall heavily onto the ground, and Sakura winced. Her main mind, back where she left it, shuddered. It felt as if the blade had embedded itself into her own body.

Itachi ripped the blade out of his flesh, hearing the sickening _squelch_ as it came out. He tried to focus his eyes on Sasuke, but everything blurred, becoming fuzzy.

"Huh," Sasuke snorted, "Are you feeling the backlash of Tsukuyomi?"

He bared his teeth.

"I like that!"

His hands slid through a very familiar series of seals.

"Katon! Gokakyuu no Jutsu!"

The giant fireball blew towards Itachi, who jumped out of its way. But he came face to face with Sasuke. A chidori crackled on the younger brother's hand, and he managed to blow a hole into the ceiling when he missed Itachi.

The elder Uchiha sent a fireball back at him, and Sasuke sprouted a wing and blocked the flames. Then, both of them reared back, forming the seals at the same time and ordering:

"Katon! Gokakyuu no Jutsu!"

The two fireballs slammed into each other, illuminating the entire roof with bright yellow light. Itachi decreased the amount of chakra he funnelled into his technique, and watched as Sasuke's began to push his back.

"_Okay, now it's time for Amaterasu," _Itachi thought.

"_Say what now?!"_

Sakura's exclamation was cut short when Itachi's right eye throbbed, spilling blood. When he opened his eye, black flames sprung up out of nowhere, eating away at Sasuke's fireball. They were smouldering hot, and within seconds, it had completely destroyed the Gokakyuu.

Breathing hard, they stared at each other, Itachi with his right eye closed.

"_That was… scary," _Sakura breathed. She felt Itachi's amusement radiate through his mind, before he said:

"_Sasuke is probably planning on using those storm clouds that are coming up."_

"_What?" _Sakura urged Itachi's eyes to flicker upwards so she could see the thunderclouds. The air hummed with static, and then she understood what Itachi was trying to tell her.

Alarm filled her.

"_Uh-oh…" _

XxXxX

Sasuke turned on his heel, running in an arc around Itachi. Quickly, his aniki trailed black flames after him, finally setting his wing on fire.

Sasuke yelled and thrashed, but split the stone underneath him with a small chidori. Using Orochimaru's Kawarimi no Jutsu, he slithered through the narrow crack and dropped to the ground below, wincing at the sudden decrease in his chakra.

Nevertheless, he smirked. He had seen the small clouds that had been forming – they just needed a small push.

'_This was what I was waiting for!' _he thought.

Letting the curse seal spread, he used the resulting chakra to perform another jutsu, namely:

"Katon! Gouryuka no Jutsu!"

The Dragon-shaped flames punched straight through the ceiling, further heating up the atmosphere. He sent two more, making it seem like he was targeting Itachi.

Then, when he and Itachi came face to face through the hole in the ceiling, he said:

"This will be my last jutsu."

"Don't lie, you're almost out of chakra," Itachi answered, his breathing laborious.

"That's true," Sasuke said. But then he smirked, his eyes gleaming.

"But do you really think that I had come here unprepared?"

Droplets of water started to splatter over the ground. Slowly, the ground darkened in colour as more and more rain fell. Lightning flashed, followed instantly by the boom of thunder.

Sasuke raised a hand, a small chidori crackling over his skin. He leaped up high to perch on one of the walls, looking down at Itachi.

Light flared, and electricity rose from the surrounding air to add to the web of lightning that crackled around the building.

"This jutsu is called 'Kirin'," Sasuke said. Tension curled in the pit of his stomach. Waving his hand, he commanded:

"Come!"

The lightning bust into a shape of a dragon, its feral, glowing red eyes matching those of its manipulator. It roared, the sound vibrating through the very stone of the building itself.

"Disappear with the thunder!" Sasuke spat.

And with that, he brought his hand down, pointing towards Itachi.

XxXxX

"_This is bad!" _Itachi thought, his eyes wide.

The dragon-shaped lightning looped around in the clouds – Itachi knew he only had a split second to activate his last jutsu.

"_WAAAH!" _Sakura couldn't help yelping in surprise when Sasuke's technique sped down, too fast for her to see. Blinding white burned into Itachi's eyes, and he shut them against the glaring light.

All around them, the stone shook, nearabout exploding into fragments as the lightning struck. It completely demolished the building, pulverizing the rock into dust.

Just as the lightning hit them, Sakura felt something strange warp around Itachi. She couldn't see anything, because of the light, but the feeling tingled over her skin.

And then it was already gone. Itachi's body slipped off of the section of stone he stood on, falling… until he hit the ground with a hard _thud_.

His consciousness fluttered, faltered, and he resisted the urge to cough up blood. After the insanely loud sound, the silence seemed to be piercing.

"_Itachi!" _came Sakura's concerned voice. _"Are you okay?"_

"_More or less…" _he rasped.

"_I can't believe that Sasuke learned such a jutsu," _she muttered.

"_That is… really a formidable technique," _Itachi managed to say.

"_How in the world are you still alive?" _Sakura demanded. _"Please tell me – I have to know! You should have been blown to bits!"_

"_I have… Susano'o."_

"_Susano'o?" _Sakura echoed.

"_You will see it again doubtlessly." _Itachi answered.

Staring through his eyes, Sakura said tonelessly:

"_Very well, then. What's going to happen now?"_

"_I hope that Sasuke will call upon Orochimaru. Then I'll be able to extract the Snake Sannin."_

"_What?!" _Sakura's disbelief was loud. _"But Orochimaru probably has a backup plan somewhere! You can't just defeat him like that!"_

"_Just watch!" _Itachi said impatiently.

Their conversation was interrupted by Sasuke's hoarse, rasping voice:

"I… did it."

Itachi slowly rose, rasping:

"Is this the death that you foresaw for me?"

Sasuke jerked upright, his heart nearly stopping. How could his aniki still be alive?!

As Itachi gained his feet, a ghostly ribcage flamed around his form. It formed into the top half of a skeleton, and he said:

"This is my last weapon. Susano'o."

"What is that?" Sasuke whispered.

"Without this, I would have been long dead," the elder Uchiha continued.

Sasuke's hands curled into fists, and he yelled:

"Damn you!"

Trembling bloomed through him. He started to panic. He had nearly no chakra left, and Itachi, though battered, was advancing.

What should he do?!

XxXxX

**A/N**

Yeah… like I said, Canon up to the Sakura parts. Hope you liked it nonetheless! I sorry that this is a cliffie, but maybe the next chapter will be up in a week. Ja ne!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Katon! Gouryuka no Jutsu! – Fire Style! Dragon Fire Technique!

Ja ne! – See ya!


	13. Chapter 13

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_Shinobi rely on their power for strength, but her heart and determination led her to strength – the real kind._

XxXxX

**A/N**

Ah, my favorite number – 13. This number is usually used as an unlucky omen, so let's see what this chapter has in store…

Enjoy!

XxXxX

**Chapter 13**

Sasuke stared at his brother with rage, hatred, and fear. His shoulder burned, as if dipped in acid, and Sasuke knew exactly why.

His curse seal glowed, spreading the dark marks over his skin like moving tattoos. It moved fast, faster than he'd ever experienced, and his left eye started to throb painfully.

Deep inside of him, he had a fort, a stronghold around something, and this fort was made out of his chakra. With the lack of energy, the barrier slowly crumbled.

"_Sssasssuke-kun…" _

The sinister, hissing voice accompanied by a painful cramp in his shoulder instantly brought back memories to Sasuke. In his mind, two poisonous yellow eyes opened.

"_I can give you what you want…"_

Sasuke swallowed with revulsion at the double meaning.

"No…" he muttered.

"_I can give you my power… You know you can't beat Itachi without me. And you will die in vain here without me…"_

The younger brother clutched his shoulder, shaking his head.

"No!" he snapped.

Orochimaru's rasping chuckle echoed through his head.

"_Now… release me… free my power!"_

A feral roar ripped through the air as the curse mark flared like a red sun, bulging and swelling before exploding through flesh, muscle and skin. Sasuke yelled, white spots dancing in front of his eyes; his shoulder was reduced to shreds as eight serpents tore their way out.

Sasuke squinted with pain, paralyzed. He could barely move with the weight of the eight snakes attached to his shoulder, and he was too exhausted to use chakra to enhance his strength.

He'd just have to wait and pray that somehow, Orochimaru wouldn't succeed in killing Itachi. This was _his _job, _his _revenge.

XxXxX

"_Oh. My. Freaking. God."_ Sakura felt disgust spread through her. Sasuke had mutated into his curse again, but much too quickly. She had felt something wrong even before Sasuke's eye had morphed into bright yellow, giving away exactly what was happening.

Itachi was reacting similarly, though not on the same level as she was. His disapproval of the measures his otouto had taken was muted, buried under layers of pain, concentration and sheer willpower that it took to keep Susano'o up.

"_Foolish…" _Itachi muttered.

"_I can't believe that Orochimaru's still alive," _Sakura thought, repulsed.

The snake's hissed, snapping and striking at the empty air. Their bodies steadily grew longer, increasing their attack range, and they fixed their yellow, Orochimaru-like eyes on Itachi and the ribcage around him. Impatient to reach their target, they stretched and strained.

"_Get ready," _Itachi told Sakura. She only had a second to register his thoughts before he pumped almost all of his remaining chakra into Susano'o.

Strands of ghostly muscle hissed into place around the transparent bones surrounding the Uchiha. The skull finished forming, only to have layers of ethereal flesh and tissue fill it out. With a low, intense hum, glowing yellow eyes burned into life in the eye sockets.

As it completed itself, the flames burning around it turned into translucent armour, shield and gourd. Susano'o grabbed up the weapons, holding them firmly. Yellow flame spilled from the gourd, turning into a sword.

"_Whoa…" _Sakura couldn't form any intelligent words of awe as she watched the transformation around Itachi.

This was it, the third and final power of the Mangekyou. The power that not even the Rokukan's kekkai genkai could counter. She didn't know what this Susano'o could do, but it was bound to be big.

Itachi suppressed a cough, every cell in his body starting to scream at him, one at the time. His body begged to be relieved from the strain, for him to stop the jutsu and have mercy on his battered flesh.

Sakura felt her own body jerk with stress and pain when Itachi called upon Susano'o's full power. Her heart beat frantically to the pain that wasn't even hers.

Itachi staggered forwards over the rubble to meet the eight serpents. One of the snakes finally came within striking range, and it shot forward.

The snakes attacked either in a group of alone, but if they threatened to harm Susano'o, it just smashed them aside with its shield. And when it got the chance, it beheaded two serpents with the burning yellow sword it wielded.

The heads thudded onto the ground, raising dust, but the snakes attacked relentlessly until all but one of them had been killed.

The last one reared back, spitting angrily, before it tilted its head back and opened its jaws wide.

Itachi squinted, staring intently at the bubbling mess at the back of the snake's mouth. And then, covered in slime and goo, a dripping finger leaned out between the reptile's teeth.

"So… you've finally showed yourself," Itachi said, his voice hard.

Sakura felt her thoughts shiver.

Orochimaru laughed maniacally, before pausing and vomiting up a long, gleaming sword.

"Kukukuku… Sasuke's completely used up all his chakra, and he couldn't suppress me any longer. Itachi, I guess I should thank you, but I'm not going to, because I will kill you."

Sakura fought the urge to make Itachi roll his eyes, instead listened as he calmly moved Susano'o as if it were him.

The sword Susano'o held struck Orochimaru straight on. This time, it didn't physically cut, but somehow fused with the Snake Sannin's body.

"Kukukuku… You can't defeat me," Orochimaru chuckled. But then his eyes widened as his body began to dissipate, running along the length of the ghostly sword.

"No… impossible! The sword of Totsuka…!" he choked, shocked.

"_For real?" _Sakura asked, awed. _"This is the sword of Totsuka?"_

"_Aa." _Itachi answered.

As his body melted, Orochimaru kept up a stream of bellowed protests.

"NO! I am Orochimaru, he who will discover the secrets of this world! I cannot be killed! I am immortal! I am…!" He never finished his sentence as he and his serpents were sucked into the gourd at the bottom of the sword.

Sakura sighed with relief. Finally, that psychopath was gone!

Itachi focused his eyes on Sasuke, who struggled to his feet. He was now back to normal, and Sakura could feel that he was out of chakra.

Sasuke trembled, his eyes wide and incredulous as his older brother began his slow, steady advance once more. He sure was in trouble, and he had to act fast.

His hands plunged into his weapons' pouch, resurfing with a whole string of kunai with exploding tags. He launched them at his brother, but they just detonated harmlessly against the shield that Susano'o carried.

As the smoke cleared, Itachi coughed, his chest hurting like fire. He tasted warm, metallic blood on his tongue as his lungs fought to provide enough oxygen for him.

Sasuke watched his brother stop abruptly, coughing, and moved into action. His sword made a hissing sound as he drew it, leaping high and bringing it down on the ghostly protection around Itachi with a hoarse yell.

The rebound of his blow was strong enough to send the blade flying from his hands, wrenching his wrists painfully. Sasuke landed again, his eyes huge. There was nothing more he could use. Throwing weapons was useless. Teleporting was out of question – he didn't have nearly enough chakra to pull off that jutsu.

Sasuke's mind raced through possibilities, calculating, evaluating… but he came to the same result every single time.

He was doomed.

He was going to die, and Itachi would win. Itachi, the man he had loved and hated the most in separate stages of his life.

All Sasuke could do was watch as his brother advanced. Itachi was unbeatable, inexorable…

Scrambling backwards, Sasuke felt his back connect with stone. Turning his face to the side, he panicked as he realized that he was backed against a slab of stone, the last portion of the wall that was still standing. His gaze travelled upwards, and his eyes found the Uchiha fan painted above him.

How ironic.

Itachi was only a couple of yards away now. Now only a few feet. Sasuke stared, unable to close his eyes, frozen to the spot. Itachi's hand came up, covered in congealed blood. The elder Uchiha's eyes were glazed, clouded with pain. The fingers of his raised hand twitched, slowly moving forward towards Sasuke's eye.

XxXxX

"_Itachi!" _Sirens went off in Sakura's head as she felt the strain in Itachi's body. She was a medic, and she knew that this amount of pressure was equivalent to the time Sasori had stabbed her with a poisoned blade. And she knew what it meant.

Itachi was dying.

"_Stop! Stop it, Itachi!" _Panic bloomed through her as Itachi ignored her, continuing forwards.

"_Oi! Are you listening to me? Itachi!"_

"_Shut up," _he said tiredly. She recoiled at the sound of his exhausted, sluggish thoughts. He was really at the very edge.

He raised his arm, his muscles feeling like they were ripping. He concentrated, turning off his dying Sharingan and, with the last bit of chakra, he transported his Mangekyou techniques into the fingers of his right hand.

XxXxX

Naruto ground his teeth in frustration. What was this guy – Tobi – doing? Every time they thought that they had him for good, he'd somehow dematerialize and show up somewhere else!

"Damn it! Damn it!" he muttered to himself.

"Naruto, calm yourself," he heard Kakashi say. But his sensei's voice seemed to come from a long way off as Naruto struggled with his anger.

"Remember, we go with a plan. You're not alone her, Naruto."

That helped somewhat. He got himself under control, and said:  
"Come on, let's do something! We've gotta attack him all together!"

Kakashi sighed. Naruto was a natural at giving orders.

"Everybody, Formation B!"

"Hai!" all of them chorused.

Sakura was missing in their formation, though, and that only strengthened Naruto's resolve to get her back.

He couldn't leap as high as Sakura could throw him, but he did his best, pretending to launch himself at Tobi with a wild cry.

"Whoa, you're trying to catch me?" the Akatsuki member exclaimed, dodging. Then he noticed all the others closing in while he looked up at Naruto.

"Hey, hey! He was only a distraction!" Madara pointed out the obvious. "And now you're all going to attack? Not fair!" He dodged Kiba and Akamaru's Gatsuuga, and Kakashi's crackling Raikiri. Wood beams shot up, but he avoided those too.

But that was when he heard a cry of _"Rasengan!" _and saw Naruto descending on him, the deadly technique in his hand.

"Oi! He was the actual attack after all!" Tobi/Madara yelled. "Ya got me!"

Naruto crashed into him, the Rasengan nearly touching him before Madara flickered out of his solid form and flashed to the nearest branch.

Meanwhile, the Kyuubi Jinchuriki was left staring at the empty crater his attack had left.

"Huh…?" he blurted. "But I got him!"

Looking up at Tobi, he narrowed his eyes angrily.

"What game should we play now, Konoha no Minna-san?" Madara chuckled.

"We don't have the fucking time to waste with you, bastard!" Naruto seethed. His anger level rose again, and he had trouble keeping to the plan. Sasuke and Sakura were out there somewhere close, and he was going to get to them, no matter what!

XxXxX

Fingers, reaching out towards Sasuke's eyes. A hand and arm that trembled with fatigue and pure exhaustion. A heart beat, slowly going out…

Sakura felt Itachi's body's system slowing… slowing…

"_No…" _she whispered.

Her body jerked, and in her main mind, she glanced at Suigetsu and Kisame. The two Suiton style nins were slowly coming to a stop, and Kisame was distracted.

This was her chance.

Sakura gathered her legs under her, and then burst out of her cover in the trees. Before Kisame saw her coming, she had already sped past him, rocketing over the landscape.

His outraged of "Oi, you!" was far behind her. She heard Juugo and Karin jerk with surprise at her sudden departure, and Suigetsu called after her as well.

She knew that it was a futile attempt. Sasuke's chakra seal kept her from using the majority of her chakra, and with dread she realized that Itachi's heartbeat was slowing with every passing second. Adrenaline flooded through her veins, and her movements began to shake.

"_Come on, come on!" _Sakura willed her body to move faster. How could she let this happen? She could see the destroyed Uchiha hideout in the distance, and her despair increased tenfold.

Itachi felt Sakura's efforts to reach him in time, and he sighed. His thoughts were chaotic, barely coherent under the influence of pain.

"_Sasuke…" _Itachi thought, gazing into his brother's fear-stricken gaze. For one endless moment, their eyes locked. His lips twitched. Shutting his eyes, he smiled at his otouto for the first time in years. His raised hand came closer… and closer…

… And then he poked Sasuke in the middle of the forehead.

Itachi willed his lips to move, willed is mouth to form words, and he whispered:

"Forgive me, Sasuke." Blood bubbled out of the corners of his mouth, streaming down his chin and dripping onto the ground.

"This is the last time," he rasped. His heart beat stuttered. The last of his chakra flowed out of his body, into Sasuke.

There was a beat of strickening silence, where his body froze at the lack of chakra, and then Itachi felt his heart thump one last time, quietly.

Sakura's eyes widened.

Itachi's heart had stopped. It was as if her own heart had failed as well and she cried out loud, her legs folding under her and sending her sprawling over the ground. Gasping for air, her hand went to her chest, clutching her shirt, as she fought for air.

"_No! No no no no NO!" _she yelled. _"Itachi, hold on!"_

She received no response.

"_ITACHI!" _she couldn't help wailing like she had when she was young. Memories of her mother's death flared before her eyes.

Itachi's knees went loose, and he fell forward.

To Sakura's Inner Eye, his life flickered like a candle flame, unsteady and weak in front of a storm front.

Flickering.

Dying.

Going down.

No…

But she felt a tiny thought, a small voice. Itachi's voice.

"_Save… Sasuke… if you… can,… Sakura." _he thought dizzily.

"_But… Konoha… come… first." _The last word was hardly audible, and then his body hit the ground.

"_What?" _she asked, desperately tracking the sound of his voice, _"Itachi, what do you mean?"_

"…"

"_Itachi!"_

…

His life light went out.

…

Shock hit Sakura's running form like a physical wall. Her legs folded like paper, and she slammed into the ground painfully. But that didn't matter – she scrambled to her feet only to lose her balance and fall again.

"No!" she felt tears spurt out of her eyes. Her second mind was still in Itachi's body, but his consciousness was gone. All that was left was darkness, full of empty, black shadows.

For a second, all Sakura could do was flounder, drowning in the pitch blackness of Itachi's empty body.

He was gone.

Gone!

Just like that.

Sakura's heart beat quickened, thumping loudly and unsteadily. Her limbs were paralyzed by the feeling of dying. She _had _been dying, in a way, alongside Itachi, but it was only her mind inside of Itachi's mind.

Tears streamed down her face. As if on cue, the clouds opened up, and it started to rain, first only small droplets until a complete downpour started. Sakura couldn't care less about the rain, and she continued to stumble-run in the direction of the Uchiha hideout.

Even if Itachi was gone, she couldn't forget somebody. She couldn't leave him, especially now after the turn of the events.

Sasuke.

XxXxX

Madara stopped when he sensed a newcomer arriving.

"The battle's over," Zetsu said as he surfaced from inside the tree branch.

All the Konoha nins froze as they saw the plant-like Akatsuki member.

"Sasuke won," White Zetsu said while Black Zetsu added:

"Uchiha Itachi is dead."

Silence.

Then Madara nodded, satisfaction spreading through him.

"Just as I predicted," he said. He dismissed Zetsu with a wave of his hand, and turned to the Konoha team.

"Sorry, I gotta go."

The Leaf ninja all tensed with surprise when Madara's voice came out in a dark, deep tone, at least an octave lower than before.

"So… Ja ne," he waved, turning. Light fell through the single opening in his mask, and a Sharingan eye gleamed menacingly.

With that, he disappeared.

"Quick!" Kakashi ordered, leaping forwards.

"We've got to get to Sasuke before he does!"

"Hai!"

"Hinata, where is he?"

The Hyuuga heiress activated her kekkei genkai, and then exclaimed:

"There's a ring of fire around a destroyed building, but the flames are black!"

"Amaterasu!" Naruto realized, "That's where they are!"

XxXxX

Sakura staggered across the field of rubble, panting. Her emerald eyes, turned misty green with shock and grief, hunted along the chunks of stone.

There!

She saw Sasuke just as he collapsed in a faint at the foot of the only standing slab of rock left. And next to him… Sakura swallowed.

Itachi lay motionless, with Sasuke near him. Two brothers, one dead, one barely alive.

Sakura stumbled up to them, and then fell to her knees next to Sasuke. Her hands lit up in a halo of green and she passed them over Sasuke's still form, taking inventory of his injuries. Then she automatically began to heal him, her chakra sinking into his body, mending him, keeping him anchored to this world. She could have healed him in a few seconds if she had enough chakra, but as it was, she didn't.

'_Sasuke…' _she thought, glancing at his relaxed face. He was either asleep, or unconscious. Probably the latter. She wished that he hadn't placed the chakra barrier on her – if he hadn't, then she would have reached Itachi in time.

'_I'll keep you alive, Sasuke. It's the least I can do…'_

As she worked, tears just continued to pour down. But they didn't distract her – she stubbornly healed her ex-teammate, keeping her eyes on her work and not letting them stray over to Itachi's corpse.

'_Damn all chakra seals!' _she thought angrily.

How long did she kneel here, in the rain? Five minutes? Five hours? She didn't know. But it was in this state when she felt a chakra signature appear not that far away from her.

Her body locked down in surprise before she recovered, whirling around. Her arm immediately went around Sasuke's waist, pulling his sagging body up while she slung his arm around her own shoulders. He was heavy, but she still had enough chakra to be able to run with his added weight.

Her stomach flipped when she saw who had come.

Uchiha Madara.

"Get away from us!" she cried. Her usual calm composure had shattered under all the stress, and now she was just Sakura, an emotional, compassionate fifteen year old girl.

Madara just chuckled, slowly coming closer. Sakura braced her legs apart for better balance, hate blazing in her eyes. This was all Madara's fault. She just _knew _that this was All. His. Fault!

"My, my," Madara said, his voice smooth, "I didn't expect to see you here, Rokukan-san, healing and caring for someone who betrayed you."

"Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's wrong," Sakura spat back, her mind reeling. She had to get out of here, and she didn't have enough chakra to transport one person, let alone two.

She backed up, and her back hit the stone wall where Sasuke had been standing before. She now found herself in a similar situation.

What should she do?

Before she could even think of anything effective, Madara warped himself right in front of her. She squeaked, automatically lashing out to punch him, but her blow went right through him. She fell heavily, rolling back up and losing her grip on Sasuke.

In a flash, Madara was standing above the younger Uchiha. The air started to spiral around Madara's eye and he began to suck Sasuke in.

"Hell, no!" she lunged forwards, grabbing her ex-teammate's hand. But then she found herself being sucked in as well. She dug her heels into the ground, but it was to no avail.

Sakura disappeared along with Sasuke in a whirl, losing consciousness.

XxXxX

Naruto skidded to a halt, his blue eyes going to Itachi's corpse lying in front of him. The rest of the Konoha team halted around him, staring at the body as well.

"Where's Sasuke?" Naruto asked, his voice small. He couldn't detect Sasuke's chakra anywhere.

Hinata scanned the landscape, but she didn't see a hint of chakra anywhere. Slowly, she closed her eyes, not wanting to break the news on her longtime crush.

"… Hinata…?" Naruto's voice made her eyes snap open again.

"Can you see Sasuke anywhere?" he asked hopefully.

Swallowing, the Hyuuga shook her head.

Naruto's eyes widened and he turned to his mentor.

"Kaka-sensei…?"

Again, he was given a negative answer.

A lump formed in Naruto's throat, and he tasted when he bit his tongue a little too hard.

The entire group of Konoha nins started when he suddenly fell to his knees, pounding a shaking fist onto the ground.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" he muttered fiercely. Tears threatened to fall, but he suppressed them. He felt a hand on his shoulder then, and looked up into a pair of silvery-white eyes that were full of pity and grief.

Hinata knelt next to him, not saying anything. What could she say? There was nothing she could offer to comfort him. But she simply sat side by side with him, her support flowing through her simple touch.

Sai blinked up at the clouds, frowning. And it was a real frown. They had been so close… but they were too late. The Root member felt a coiling of something bitter inside of him, and for once he didn't stop to think and analyze the feeling. He had a feeling that he'd felt this particular one before.

As the rain continued to pour down, Kakashi gently laid a hand on Naruto's other shoulder.

"Let's go," he said quietly, his lone eye downcast.

They all waited for Naruto's response. After what seemed to be an hour, the blonde shinobi finally nodded, getting to his feet. As if he'd given some invisible command, the Leaf nins moved out, their pace slow and disappointed. Failure hung in a thick cloud around them.

In this fashion, they headed back to Konoha.

XxXxX

When Sakura came to, she could only blink for a second. She was staring up at a collection of stalactites, directly above her.

With a quick movement, she jerked upright.

She was in a cave. Somebody had lain her on a rough matt of woven bamboo strips, but her hands and feet were bound. There was a painfully tight gag between her teeth. She tried reaching for her chakra, but it was still blocked by Sasuke's seal.

Gritting her teeth, she tried to wiggle her hands out of the rough ropes, but she didn't get anywhere. Whoever had tied her had made very good knots.

As she wriggled and squirmed, she heard a rustling sound from the other end of the cave. Her gaze snapped to the source of the sound, and she inhaled sharply.

Sasuke was just sitting up. He was unbound and lying in a rough futon, shirtless.

But Sakura didn't have any time to ogle him. Her eyes were fixed on his face.

His expression was worrying. His black eyes were now an exhausted, cloudy gray, and his face was haggard and tight. But the most disturbing thing was that behind his eyes, deep inside, she could only see a dead emptiness.

Her struggles doubled, and she let out a frustrated huff when she got nowhere.

However, that huff alerted Sasuke to her presence, and he slowly turned his face towards her.

"… Sakura?" his voice was confused and faint.

She nodded at him from her uncomfortable position across the cave, and wiggled sideways, trying to move towards him.

Sasuke stared at her, then looked around. But he didn't look interested at all – in fact, he seemed to not really see anything at the moment.

"Where am I…?" he asked quietly nobody in particular.

Just then, footsteps sounded from a tunnel to Sakura's right. Her head jerked to the sound, and she flinched, nearly falling over. Sasuke didn't even react.

"I've treated your wounds, Sasuke," Madara's voice drifted from the tunnel. Sakura jumped, inching away from the elder Uchiha.

"You won," Madara went on. "We've met before… but we're not enemies now. Forget about what happened with Deidara."

He came closer, and Sakura growled against the gag. Sasuke's gaze left Madara and focused on Sakura and she shook her head frantically at him. What she meant was:

'Don't let him near you!'

But Sasuke didn't seem to care about anything anymore.

"I wish to talk to you about something," Madara paused. When Sasuke's eyes didn't leave Sakura, the elder Uchiha sighed:

"You don't seem very interested."

Silence.

"Very well, will you be more interested if I told you that this is about Uchiha Itachi?"

Now he got a response. Sasuke's eyebrows lowered and his eyes travelled back to Madara.

"I guess I'll start with introducing myself," Madara started to remove his mask. "Like you, I am a living remnant of the Uchiha Clan." His Sharingan eye glowed in the gloom of the cave.

Sasuke's eyes flew wide open when he saw that, and his left eye bled red without his permission. But then, it throbbed painfully, the tomoes turning in the pinwheels of Itachi's Mangekyou. Blood seeped out of his eye.

"What…?" Madara jerked backwards, just as the black flames of Amaterasu burst into existence on his shoulder. He dropped his mask and yelled, staggering back into the dark tunnel, out of view. There, the screams of agony died down with a hiss of flame.

Sakura tried to call to Sasuke, but all she got out was a collection of strangled syllables. She screamed with frustration when her ex-teammate didn't look at her, instead focusing on his bleeding eye.

"What… was that… right now?" he murmured.

Footsteps sounded again, and Sakura's eyes widened. Madara had survived Itachi's technique?

"That was Amaterasu – Itachi implanted it into your eyes. He set it up so that you'd activate it as soon as you saw my Sharingan." Madara picked up his discarded mask and put it back on. "Typical Itachi. He still amazes me, even after he died. He set this up, just to be sure that this meeting between you and me wouldn't happen."

"… What the hell are you talking about?" Sasuke muttered.

"With his dying breath, he managed to somehow transfer his ocular powers into you," Madara explained. Sakura fought the ties, watching him talk.

'_This is bad!' _she thought, alarmed. _'If Madara tells Sasuke the truth, then everything Itachi planned will be ruined. I've got to stop him!'_

Quickly, she pulled her second mind out of her body, probing sharply at Madara. But before she could enter his mind, a wall slammed up before her.

She gasped, her eyes snapping open.

Madara had repelled her second mind?

Her eyes wide, she gazed at the elder Uchiha. How had he done that? There was no way he could block her second mind's attack! Takeshi would have told her if the Uchiha could defend themselves against the Rokukan Inner mind!

She had caught Madara's attention now, and he turned to her with an aura of malice.

"I wouldn't try, if I were you, Rokukan-san," he told her smoothly.

Sakura flinched when Madara used her real, last name, and she quickly looked at Sasuke. But the young Uchiha didn't seem to be too interested in anything at the moment, and she only saw a flicker of confusion before his face went back to the dead mask of despondency.

"I will deal with you later," Madara promised her, before turning back to Sasuke.

"Now, where was I? Oh yes, Itachi gave his Mangekyou powers to you. He did something to you, didn't he, right before he died?"

Sasuke just stared blankly for a second, before he remembered Itachi's fingers poking his forehead.

"What do you mean?" he spat, slow anger starting to burn through him. He didn't want to talk about this, and yet he did. A part of him said that it was all over, and he shouldn't concern himself with his murdering, criminal brother anymore. But another part started to prickle with curiosity to Madara's bait.

"Why would he do something like that for me?" he asked.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Madara sighed. Sasuke started at the disappointed, almost resentful tone the masked man had injected into his words.

"He did it… in order to protect you."

XxXxX

**A/N**

Ugh, I'm horrible at angst, fight and pain scenes. It's been a struggle to recount the whole battle quickly, and yet with plenty of detail and structure. Thanks to everybody who has ever reviewed – they really help me to write!

But one more thing… about Itachi's death. A lot of people have reviewed and written only one thing, namely: "Please don't let Itachi die," or "Don't kill Itachi! He's so -insert fangirl squealing- !" I appreciate the reviews where there's this request _along with critic or something_, but reviews with just begging were troublesome. Now _please_, if all you want to write in a review about this chapter is "Why did you make Itachi die?" or something similar, then leave it. I wish Itachi didn't die, too, but this story is going in a direction where his death is essential.

Phew, now I sound really cranky. Sorry for the complaint, and please forgive me if I sounded too harsh.

EbonyEye

XxXxX

The Sword of Totsuka – here, it's an almost mythical sword that seals whoever it pierced into a genjutsu world inside the gourd forever

(Note: the 'Kukukukuku' is Orochimaru's laughing/chuckling. He laughs really creepy; you should look it up on YouTube or somewhere, hehe)


	14. Chapter 14

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_Love and patience gets one further than brutal violence. She knew this – he didn't__._

XxXxX

**A/N**

Muahahaha, I'm alive! :D I'm so sorry that I didn't update for so long – I kind of had a camp over the weekend and then I got sidetracked by one of my own stories…

Anyways, thanks for all of your reviews, I absolutely loved them!

And special thanks to _Red Lips 'n' Cloudy Eyes_!

XxXxX

**Chapter 14**

Sakura bit down on the gag. Hard. Her eyes remained glued to Sasuke's expression, and what she saw honestly frightened her.

The young Uchiha's eyes had snapped open wide in shock and stunned disbelief when he'd heard what Madara had said. His mouth trembled, forming silent questions, his hands clenched into the rough blanket.

For a long moment, all he could do was gasp and fumble for words before he repeated numbly, in a hollow voice:

"H… He did a… all that to p… protect… me?" His voice quivered the tiniest bit.

"Yes," Madara answered, and Sakura detected a hint of malicious glee in his voice. She struggled, trying to get her hands out from where they were tied to her side. It was no use.

'_No… No! This was not what Itachi planned! Madara will ruin everything!' _she shouted at herself. Despair weighed on her heart, but she forced herself to take even, deep breaths. It felt so surreal – her mind was so unfocused with suppressed panic, fear and willpower to do something.

Then she realized what she could do.

Ignoring Madara's dark voice recounting parts of Itachi's story, she reached out towards Sasuke's mind. With a silent cry of relief, she slipped into his thoughts.

"_Sasuke!" _she called.

His shoulders jerked, and as she watched, he slowly raised his gaze to hers. She recoiled at his dull, lifeless eyes, but forged onwards.

"_Don't listen, Sasuke!" _she yelled. _"He's telling you everything the wrong way! For heaven's sake, Sasuke, __**listen to me!**__" _With a jolt of shock, she realized that Sasuke had flinched at the sound of her frantic shouts in his head.

'_Keep cool, keep cool!'_ she chanted to herself. In a calmer voice, she said to Sasuke:

"_Sasuke. Of the two people you see here, who do you trust more?"_

Straining to hear his answer, she found something that shocked her.

Sasuke's mind was no longer coherent. So many images, emotions and memories ran in an uncontrolled frenzy through his mind. Sakura's breathing quickened.

He was borderline going insane.

Anger burned through her in the next moment, directed at Madara. Did the elder Uchiha know what a gamble he was taking? Sasuke could just as well turn against him any second!

"_Sasuke…kun," _she added the suffix in her softest tone. She felt his chaotic thoughts halt for a brief instant, before going back to the wild disorder.

"_Do you know who I am? Do you know who you are? Don't take what Madara says seriously, Sasuke-kun."_

Again, his thoughts ordered themselves for a moment before falling back into maelstrom of terror.

Sakura anxiously waited for any sign from him, and her heart leaped into her throat when a single, slow thought reached her.

"… _Sa…ku…ra…"_

It was timid, and pitifully small, and Sakura answered gently:

"_Yes, it's me – Haruno Sakura." _It was better if he didn't learn of her new identity.

Sasuke's gaze remained glued to her, and he thought:

"_I… don't understand…"_

"_That's okay, I don't either," _she tried to soothe his agitation. _"But Sasuke, don't believe a word Madara said about your brother."_

The next moment, she wished she'd held her tongue. At the mention of Itachi, Sasuke's gaze snapped back to Madara and his breathing edged into hyperventilation.

"…" his thoughts closed down once more. Raw, unbridled emotions washed through him and into Sakura.

Hate. Anger. Confusion. Pain. Guilt.

Confusion, Pain and Guilt were starting to win out and as he drowned in his despair, Sakura felt herself slipping.

She'd never felt such strong emotions. Not while Itachi was dying, nor while she was trying to stop him. But this…

This was near insanity.

Her mind wavered, and several times she was swept along in the tide of his black horror and wordless grief. She'd been too late – he was already imagining his brother as the hero, not the villain. He was believing what Madara was saying.

'_Oh no…' _Sakura felt nausea rise in her throat, but she pushed it down. She had to withdraw from Sasuke's mind, and quickly, or she'd go crazy herself.

Pulling back into her body, she snarled around the gag.

Madara, in the middle of narrating the time when Itachi was working for as a double agent for Konoha, glanced at her. The look in that one eye of his told her that he knew what she had tried to do, and he was savouring her failure.

"Rokukan-san, I suppose you just discovered the shortcoming of your kekkai genkai," he said pleasantly. Sakura just growled a wordless curse at him and tried to stand with her feet bound.

"None of that," he told her, and the next second, he had flickered next to her and stomped on her hand. Her arm buckled under the pain that shot through her bones and she collapsed from her attempted stand.

"Stay still," Madara advised before returning to Sasuke.

Sakura tuned out the story, and began to twist her wrists against her hips. It hurt. The bones in her wrist seemed to grate against each other, but hope rose in her when she felt the ropes loosen a tiny bit.

'_Faster, faster, faster!' _she chanted, working her hands.

Madara began to tell Sasuke that the Elders of Konoha were the bottom of the problem, and actually, not just the Elders but the entire village. She rammed against the chakra block that Sasuke had placed on her, and grimaced when it didn't give way.

Madara was slowing, pointing out the reasons for Itachi's seemingly random, threatening visit to the Hidden Leaf village that one time. It was to warn Danzo and the Elders that he was still around. Sasuke went ridged at that, remembering the situation from his point of view at the time. It all made so much for sense to him now, and he was afraid of what he'd learned.

Fear made him splutter:

"Liar! You're lying…!"

"Itachi made sure that you would kill him, that you would be strong, and that his death would make you even stronger. He wanted to make you a hero of Konoha, and live in peace without knowing the truth," Madara said, his voice nearly hypnotic. "Everything, absolutely everything he did… was for you."

"L… Liar…" Sasuke whispered, but this time it had barely any conviction left in it.

A fine tremble flashed his spine. His fists clenched and unclenched in the blanket.

Sakura chocked as she tried to hold out the unbearable silence that had sunk down upon all of them. The smothering, deafening silence was so heavy that she dared not even wriggle her hands out of the ropes.

"That's all," Madara finished, standing. "I'll escort you out now."

Sakura's fury rose. She had failed. She had utterly and completely failed. Her eyes stung and she fought the urge to let the tears fall that were gathering.

"No! Don' lithen 'oo 'im, Thathke!" she managed to get out around the gag.

Sasuke didn't even look at her. He rose silently, his movements jerky and his gait tottering, but he shrugged on his bloodied clothes and Madara helped him out.

Sakura was left alone in the cave, and her feeling of impending doom rose.

Now Sasuke would leave her with Madara, and Kami knows what the man would do with her. Something with keeping her corpse. All she could think about was Orochimaru's sickening experiments.

She evened out her breathing, and closed her eyes to concentrate.

'_There's a change in the air,' _she thought. _'Something has changed. The world seems to have just tipped into a new story. A bad story.'_

Taking a deep breath, she stood. Her feet and hands were still bound, but she managed to hop out of the cave. One hop at the time. Without chakra, it was slow, but she bore down on her body with iron will.

Presently, she smelled salt water and brine. Increasing the pace of her hopping, she almost sobbed with relief when light touched her face.

But what she saw next shocked her.

Sasuke. Crying.

Uchiha Sasuke stood on a high dome of rock, his face turned towards the sea, crying. His teammates and Madara stood silently around him, listening and watching Sasuke's breakdown.

She just stood and watched alongside the others as Sasuke slowly, slowly calmed. His eyes, still closed, scrunched up before relaxing. The air around him changed, and suddenly, he said in a low, rough voice:

"Team Hebi does not exist anymore."

Sakura noticed Madara tense at that, his fingers digging into the folds of his cloak. She knew that he was placing a high bet on Sasuke – should he lose, then he would be killed.

Sasuke continued:

"We are now called Taka, and we have but one goal—"

Sakura leaned forwards, eyes wide.

"—to destroy Konoha!"

Shocked silence.

An indefinable cry left Sakura's – gagged – lips and when she hopped again, she tripped and was sent sprawling over the ground.

With an annoyed huff, she picked herself up again and saw that everyone had turned towards her, even Sasuke.

She thought her heart stopped.

Sasuke's eyes were red with Sharingan, but it was not the normal kind. A red, six pointed star in each eye glowed on a black background, and as Sakura tasted the atmosphere around him, she realized with a start that his chakra signature had shifted.

Badly.

"Sakura."

She jumped at her name, almost tripping again.

As she watched, Sasuke slowly, slowly turned towards her and approached her at a deliberate, stalking pace. Wet tracks ran down his face, marking where tears had streamed down, but his expression could have been made of stone.

Madara, behind Sasuke, stirred and glared at Sakura in annoyance. As he watched her freeze with shock, an idea formed in Madara's mind.

"Sasuke-kun," he called softly. Sasuke's form halted and he unwillingly turned towards the elder Uchiha.

"This kunoichi is a Konoha nin."

Sasuke flinched as 'Konoha' slipped out of Madara's mouth, and he slowly turned back to Sakura, a red-eyed glare pinning her into place.

The word 'Konoha' had become some sort of attack command, Sakura mused.

She tried to move, tried to say something… but she couldn't. Everything around her disappeared except for each pulse of her heartbeat, rapidly growing quicker with fear.

Sasuke had completely changed.

He had gotten over his shock of hearing the truth, and now he had realized that he was utterly and completely alone. Whatever mercy he had shown her in the past was wiped clean off of his face, and that scared her.

With a huff, she drew herself upright, ignoring the searing pain in her wrists bound to her side. Her minds blurred into one, the joining going so much quicker with the practice and fear mingling freely. Blinking, she gazed deep into Sasuke's eyes, seeing the red path of his vision centred on her. She had nearly no chakra, but she had iron will and determination.

She would not die here. She was too stubborn to give up so easily on Sasuke and everybody she knew.

With a strangled cry, she sent a flood of her power over Sasuke's field of vision, turning the red into normal yellow.

Sasuke blinked with shock, halting.

Her chakra signature had disappeared. His eyes widened in disbelief before they narrowed a fraction. Moving with unreal speed, he towered over her. To his surprise and suspicion, she did not cower or cringe or show any sort of shock at his sudden proximity.

What had happened to the Sakura he had known?

Green eyes, as green as emeralds and spring, stared into his, and for the first time ever, Sasuke felt a twinge of unease at the deep knowledge and pain in her gaze.

But another surprise was coming for Uchiha Sasuke. With a cry, Sakura darted forwards, knocking him in the side with her shoulder – and Sasuke couldn't see her! He cussed inelegantly – so unlike him – when he realized that he hadn't predicted her move. What's more, she had rammed into him in a way that had sent his katana flying out of its scabbard and through the air.

Sakura heard, more than saw, Suigetsu move in the next moment. Sound waves were travelling crazily all over the place from the other people's breathing, the crash of waves, and her own heartbeat. She ducked just in time to avoid Suigetsu's swig that would have taken her head clean off of her shoulders, and then weaved to the right, avoiding Sasuke kick.

Rushing over to his fallen katana, she grimaced when she realized that she'd have to kneel to reach the katana.

Briefly dropping to her knees, she bit down on the hilt and snapped her head backwards, tossing it into the air and causing it to tumble end over end back towards the ground.

She positioned herself underneath it, and as it came down, it sliced cleanly through the bonds that held her hands in place. She quickly cut the ropes that bound her legs, and wrestled the gag from her mouth

A triumphant 'Ha!' left her lips as she swung around and parried Suigetsu's sword with a kunai that she'd whipped out. She flashed him a grin, which he returned, before pressing forwards.

"You know, Cherry, I don't actually wanna fight you, but it looked like fun," Suigetsu smirked.

"Well, then, you don't want to miss it," she replied before punching the ground.

If she'd been anywhere on solid ground, then her punch wouldn't have been so effective. As it was, though, they were on a sea shore and the waves had carved into the base of the cliffs, making it thinner than solid ground. Her punch blew the overhang into pieces, and she landed neatly on the rolling, tossing water, her chakra control easily handing the shifting waves under her feet.

Her blow had forced Suigetsu back, but now she saw how Sasuke flashed forwards. Steeling herself, she blocked his punch and whipped to the side to avoid his following kick. She dodged mostly, not wanting to use too much energy.

When she spotted an opening – hardly a second long – she darted in and kicked high, her foot slamming into his side. He grunted, the blow turning him ninety degrees, and she lunged forwards to land a thousand-point hit right between his shoulder blades.

Before he could rise, she leapt forwards and planted a foot onto his back, using him as leverage to flip her over in a backwards somersault, landing on the water again.

Her ears saved her next. Over the roar of the waves, she heard the tiniest possible rustling of a cloak. Her instincts screamed _'drop!' _and she did just that, stopping the flow of her chakra to her feet and dropping beneath the surface. If she hadn't done that, then Madara – who had been sneaking up from behind – would have stabbed her in the back of her neck with Sasuke's katana.

Sakura swam a bit, before noticing that a form was swimming alongside her. Turning, she glimpsed white hair and purple eyes. Cussing in her mind, she kicked hard and burst back into the air, arcing like a dolphin. She landed on the water's surface again and dashed back towards land.

She could keep fighting, but she would lose. There was no way she could keep up with Sasuke under normal circumstances, and one against five was only good when you were among the five.

She knew that Sasuke was practically out of chakra, and so was she. But Madara and Team Hebi were still on a full tank.

It all pointed towards Sakura's defeat, and she knew that she didn't stand a chance.

Mind whirling through her possibilities, she swallowed when she saw all the others staring at her.

Juugo hadn't made a move to hurt her, his face was torn pity and indecision. Karin's face was one of mixed disgust, spite and fear. Since she was a tracker nin, she wasn't suited for open combat. She wouldn't join the fight – she was a coward.

Suigetsu was just excited about a 'spar' – he wouldn't really do anything serious, Sakura knew. And Sasuke…

Well, she didn't know what to make of him. Had he changed so much that he would kill her? As she stared at his pale, blank face, her heart sank.

Yes. Yes, he would.

The realization jolted her system like an electric shock. Suddenly, all her fatigue, confusion and pain dropped off of her like a discarded cloak. Her mind was sharp, cold and clear and she called in a voice that reflected her mood:

"Sasuke."

He neither acknowledged her call or her tone.

"I want to ask you something," she continued with a hard edge. He dipped his head slightly, a tiny movement.

His cold acceptance to hear her out strengthened her anger and resolve. Her green eyes narrowed, clear and sharp as emeralds, and her voice rang out over the bay.

"Since when did you lose your way in the darkness?"

Sasuke's body tensed and Madara snarled inwardly. Wanting to divert the youngster's attention from Sakura, he said in a low voice:

"Sasuke-kun, she is lying. She just wants to save her village – her traitorous, filthy village."

But Sasuke continued to gaze at Sakura with speculating eyes. Madara's voice seemed to come from a long distance off as he unwillingly followed Sakura's question.

Yes, since when had he become what he had become? His mind turned back to the day – more accurately night – he had left Konoha to become a young nuke-nin. The years under Orochimaru – he had sworn that they hadn't touched him, hadn't tainted him.

But… thinking back to all the assassination missions that Orochimaru had sent him on, all the people he had killed on order… could he really be so sure?

Killing the Snake Sannin had been right, he was sure of it. Orochimaru was a disgusting, sick creature who didn't deserve to live.

Actually, he hadn't even killed him. Just absorbed him. The one who really killed Orochimaru was Ita—

Sasuke's jaw clenched as pain shot through him.

Now Sakura's voice drifted to his ears once more.

"You either listen to Madara, or to me," she said gravely. "Both of us have a place in your life, he as a relative and I as a former teammate. But really, just because parts of his story are true, does that mean that everything is the truth? Think about it, Sasuke."

Sasuke's mind spun. He felt disoriented, and turned towards Madara, awaiting a counterattack from him.

Madara didn't disappoint.

"Tsk tsk, Sakura-chan. Why would I lie to him? He deserves to know the truth, after everything he and his brother have done."

Sasuke twitched at the mention of his brother.

Sakura's gaze turned to Madara coldly, and in a dispassionate voice she said:

"Deserves to know, yes, but it goes against Itachi's wish."

Again, Sasuke winced when he heard of Itachi, but somehow, coming out of Sakura's mouth it wasn't as bad. He wondered why.

As Madara and Sakura stared each other down, both with anger and hate in their eyes, Sasuke's mind reeled. He couldn't decide on what he should do.

The action that his mind was ordering him to do was follow through with his original plan and move against Konoha. The pain of Itachi's death flooded through his mind.

But his heart told him that he wouldn't be able to follow through with the plan. His heart, and his feelings, told him that it would not do him any good to destroy Konoha. After all, he would face all of his former teammates, his friends, his comrades…

Sasuke's mind screamed that he had left them long ago. Sasuke's heart countered that he had never truly forsaken them.

Sakura waited a second longer, glowering at Madara, before glancing at Sasuke. Her ex-teammates' expression was torn, and she longed to say more, but she held her tongue. She had already said enough – any more, and she'd overwhelm him.

Madara certainly didn't share her concern for Sasuke's welfare, for he started:

"Sasuke-kun, I—"

"Shut up."

Madara's head snapped around to Sakura, who returned his furious glare with a cold one of her own. Her voice remained in a steady deadpan as she said:

"Give him some space, Madara."

At that, the elder Uchiha's chakra flared hugely. Nobody had spoken so carelessly around him in – what, fifty years? No, more.

Unchecked, anger flowed through him. He had massive self-control, but this tiny, pink-haired kunoichi was driving him to the edge, whether she intended to or not.

His control snapped when she turned her back on him to look at Sasuke. That was the last straw, her deliberate snub of him, showing him her unprotected back. He blurred into his transportation jutsu, materializing behind her, hand – still holding Sasuke's katana – raised to give her a fatal slash. Gone was his plan concerning her and her kekkai genkai, gone was his control, he just wanted to kill this cocky little brat.

Sakura heard him coming, and prepared herself for the blow. Her eyes remained on Sasuke, and that was how she watched him disappear in a flash. Sucking in a startled breath, she braced herself for Madara's attack.

It never came.

Slowly, she turned towards Madara.

Her eyes widened with shock.

Sasuke stood in front of her, one hand sweeping her back behind him, the other raised and gripping Madara's wrist with enough force to make the metal brace on the back of the elder Uchiha's hands creak under the strain.

"Nobody uses my weapons, except me," he said flatly.

For a long moment, everybody froze. Madara slowly stepped back, Sasuke releasing him, and dropped the katana with a metallic _clang_.

"Gomen, Sasuke-kun, Sakura_-chan_," he said smoothly, his voice a tad mocking. "I lost hold of myself. Forgive me."

Sakura wanted to roll her eyes, but her body had locked down in shock at Sasuke coming to her rescue.

"S… Sasuke…?" she whispered, her voice nearly inaudible even to her heightened senses.

"Hn."

The familiar sound made her eyes water, though she stubbornly didn't let any tears fall. She watched with wide eyes as he turned his face towards her, looking over his shoulder down at her.

He knew what her unspoken questions were, all relayed in the simple inquire in his name. She was asking him: 'What the hell was that? Are you going to kill me? What are you going to do?'

Their gazes locked and held each other.

Finally, Sasuke blinked, breaking the spell. He turned more fully towards her, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Sakura stays with me."

His deep voice split the absolute silence, and Sakura flailed inwardly for a second before managing to splutter an indignant:

"What?"

Sasuke's lips tightened and he did not repeat himself.

Behind him, Suigetsu's jaw dropped, Juugo blinked in surprise and Karin's eyes burned with hatred directed at Sakura.

Madara remained cool, at least outwardly. His fingers twitched and he suppressed the urge to curl them into a fist.

"Very well, Sasuke-kun," he barely managed to keep his voice steady. "You can keep her – I am sure you mean her to become your medic, correct?"

Sasuke glanced at the elder Uchiha. As much as he disliked the man, he had to admit it was foolish to start a fight with him. Fighting a drained Sakura and a fully prepared Madara were two entirely different things.

"Yes." His tone was curt.

"Good, then," Madara turned away. "Let's go – I'll show you to a place you can rest."

Sasuke stayed put for a second longer, then slowly started following the elder Uchiha. Karin, Suigetsu and Juugo fell in place behind their team leader, throwing curious (Suigetsu), concerned (Juugo) and jealous (Karin) looks at her.

Sakura stayed rooted in place, frozen with shock and a feeling of failure. A breath of wind stirred next to her, and suddenly Sasuke's voice spoke directly into her ear, making her jump.

"Come."

She looked up and watched his eyes fade from the Mangekyou Sharingan into the normal version, then to black.

Sakura swallowed. She'd have to gamble, something that she – unlike her master – was okay at. Should she trust Sasuke, or not?

Before she could make up her mind, her heart pulled out memories of his gentleness in the cave, right before Itachi had appeared.

Her legs moved by themselves and she trailed after Sasuke. She stepped next to Juugo, automatically following her ex-teammate's retreating form. She felt somebody hesitantly place a comforting hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Juugo smiling timidly at her.

She couldn't help but smile back.

Maybe, just maybe… she could do something about Sasuke's current predicament.

XxXxX

Tsunade slammed her hand into the desk.

The wood didn't even have time to creak or groan before it exploded into a rain of splinters.

"WHAT DO YOU FUCKING MEAN THAT SAKURA'S MISSING?" She roared.

Kakashi didn't flinch in the slightest at her anger, she noticed. Frowning, she looked around at the unsuccessful retrieval team.

They were all strangely silent, especially Naruto. Concerned, she gazed at him, noting the way the usually hyperactive blond was slouching against the wall. Normally, his bad posture would piss her off, but then Naruto raised his head and met her eyes.

She took a step back.

Naruto's blue eyes were a dark blue-grey, clouded and downcast. They echoed with emptiness which was a copy of her own.

Tearing her gaze away from him, she looked at Kakashi.

The copy nin seemed to be in his usual mood… if you overlooked the fact that his one visible eye had tightened around the edges. His back was straight – highly unusual for him – and his detestable novels weren't anywhere in sight.

Sai and Yamato weren't meeting her gaze – also not normal – and Team Kurenai stood with an air of depression.

Reaching up, Tsunade sent a pulse of her chakra into her skull to alleviate the growing headache.

"Tell me everything again," she commanded in a calmer voice that trembled at the edges.

The Konoha nins exchanged uncomfortable glances before Kakashi started again.

Tsunade listened with every ounce of concentration in her body before inquiring in a steely voice:

"And you said that Sakura just didn't turn up."

"Hai."

Frowning, Tsunade called:

"Shizune! Get me a messenger hawk and parchment!"

"Of course, Tsunade-sama." The dark haired kunoichi hurried to obey her shishou.

The female Sannin grabbed a pen and scribbled furiously on the newly brought parchment. This was what she wrote:

_To the Priests of the Rokukan Temple,_

_From the Godaime Hokage,_

_Greetings._

_A few days ago, I requested for Rokukan Sakura to leave the temple and return to the Hidden Leaf Village. We agreed that she would join a team of Konoha's shinobi half ways, yet she did not arrive at the check point. She has gone missing._

_I do not wish to sound mistrustful towards you, but if you have held Sakura-san back in any way you will face consequences._

_I also wish to tell you to search for Sakura-san as well. I will be sending retrieval squads for her, but we will need all the help we can get._

_Signed,_

_Senju Tsunade_

"Send this immediately!" Tsunade ordered, nearly flinging the parchment at Shizune.

"Hai!"

Turning back to the Team Kakashi and Kurenai, she saw that she had their attention.

"Listen up, all of you," she said, trying to calm her pounding heart. Rapidly slipping her fingers through a series of handsigns, she sealed the room, making sure that nobody could eavesdrop on them. Then, when she was sure that it was safe, she started in a low, intense voice:

"I do not really think that this is for me to say, but at the moment it may play an important role in Sakura's disappearance. Pay attention; I won't repeat myself.

"You do not know everything about Sakura. Her mother, Haruno Kiyomi, was a civilian, but her father was a shinobi. Sakura herself didn't know this until recently. His name was Rokukan Yuya.

"The Rokukan have… a special kekkai genkai. And… Sakura has it too."

Kakashi inhaled sharply, and Naruto spluttered with surprise.

"Masaka! Not Sakura-chan! I mean," he hurriedly explained himself, "I don't mean that I don't want Sakura-chan to have awesome powers, but this… not _Sakura-chan_."

"Believe it, gaki," Tsunade snapped, her short temper flaring. "Now shut up!"

Naruto cowered and the Sannin continued:

"Anyways, a little while ago, her uncle, Rokukan Takeshi, came looking for her. He took her to the Rokukan Temple, where she could train her kekkai genkai. It is a highly secret bloodline limit, and the temple is under heavy guard. I do not know how powerful Sakura is now, but I do know that it will be formidable by now."

She paused before saying quietly:

"This must be a shock for all of you. But I can assure you that the Rokukan Temple means well with her – they would not hurt her.

"Everything leads to the question of Sakura's disappearance. Somebody – I have no clue who – must have found out about Sakura's true identity. Somebody with a grudge against the Rokukan, possibly, or something else. This somebody has most likely interfered with her plan to meet up with all of you." Tsunade swept her arm out to include Team Kurenai as well.

"So," she went on, her voice steadily growing more solemn, "this somebody would know about her kekkai genkai. And the only people who deliberately go after special kekkai genkai mean to collect it."

Kakashi's eyes widened with something close to fear as realization dawned upon him. Hinata, standing with a white-shocked face, whispered:

"N… No! Oh, poor S… Sakura-san!"

Even Naruto caught on to the unspoken words.

"Somebody's trying to kill Sakura-chan?" he asked harshly, anger rising in his throat. Tsunade stayed silent, which answered him. He sucked in a breath before bursting:

"What are we all standing around for, then? Let's go!"

"You can't!" Tsunade's voice cracked through the air like a whip. "Are you brainless, boy? My guess could be off, and there's another reason that's quite possible behind Sakura's disappearance. Has it ever occurred to you, gaki, that they could have kidnapped her to use her as bait to lure you to them?"

Naruto blinked before he understood. Something highly unusual.

"… Akatsuki?" he asked disbelievingly.

She nodded once, curtly.

"…" Naruto shuddered. He was a confident person by nature, and even though people called him it, he wasn't that stupid. He had a healthy dose of fear for the Akatsuki.

But what should he do? Sakura was out there somewhere, maybe being tortured or slowly killed… He fought the panic that settled in his stomach.

What should he do?

XxXxX

**A/N**

So yeah, Sasuke's compromise for being a monster is to take Sakura along with him. That sounds like him, skirting down the grey area and claiming it's okay.

And Konoha is forming theories of Sakura's disappearance. I just want to make sure you guys know that they are only hypothesizing – what they think may not match up with Madara's evil, evil plan.

I hope you liked the fight scene!

And thanks for patiently waiting for this chapter, and sorry that it took so long!

Review, please!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Taka – Hawk

Gomen – Sorry (not very sorry, in this case xD)


	15. Chapter 15

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_Fear is a good servant, but a bad master._

XxXxX

**A/N**

"…"

I am at loss for words, people.

Exactly _how long _has it been since my last update?

KAMI-SAMA! LOOK AT THE FUCKIN' DATE!

*bowing continuously*

Gomenasai, Minne-san! How could I do this to you?! I feel horrible, and you guys have been spoiling me with all your terrific reviews.

"…"

GAI-SENSEI, WHAT DO I DO?! IN PUNISHMENT, I SHALL TRY MY HARDEST TO WRITE WITH THE FERVOUR OF YOUTH! DATTEBAYO!

(Yes, I know I'm mixing up characters here, but hey, it's fun. *winks* And yes, I know, Gai isn't really my sensei. Still, you gotta love the green beasts from Konoha! ^_^)

_Oh, please read this, minna-san!_

_To any readers who __**don't like Supernatural, Fantasy, or Religion **__this fic has a lot of that. Also, Cherry Bridge has a strong sense of forces at work that are outside of the world. If you don't like the concept of a God, then you might not like the turn my fic takes._

That's all… Enjoy! Yoshi!

XxXxX

XxXxX

**Chapter 15**

'_My world is coming apart at the seams', _Sakura thought miserably. She sat stiffly on the small, lumpy cot that had been provided for her. As she slowly twisted the scratchy blanket between her slim fingers, she recalled her outbreak just a couple of hours ago…

**Flashback**

"What?!"

Her wide eyes took in the black cloak that was being thrust towards her. She could only gape in shock and utter contempt at the red clouds decorating the dark material.

As quickly as she had lost it, she composed herself, ignoring the binding hold that Suigetsu had on her wrists and turned her stony face towards Sasuke.

"No." She said flatly.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he held the cloak closer.

"Yes." He retorted.

"No!" She snapped back. She would have retreated if Suigetsu hadn't been holding her in place. "I didn't even get a choice in this matter! I came with you—fine! But I'm not wearing that… _that!_"

A tiny current of air caused the tips of her pink hair to sway as Sasuke suddenly appeared three feet in front of her, still holding the cloak.

"Sakura," his voice warned, "if you don't wear this, you'll be treated as an intruder in this base."

"I don't care." She pouted. She didn't want to think of herself as pouting, but in truth, she was. "Nothing will get me to accept this ridiculous bargain."

She was staring at the cloak in disgust, so she didn't notice when Sasuke rolled his eyes. She did, however, hear his sigh, and his order.

"Suigetsu, take Sakura to her room. Lock the door."

'_So this is my punishment?' _Sakura thought with amusement. _'I'm getting sent to my room…'_

Memories of being punished thusly as a child by her mother flashed before her eyes, and she didn't know whether to giggle or be offended. Sasuke was treating her like a misbehaving little girl.

**End of Flashback**

So, that was why she was currently sitting in this tiny closet-like room, getting bored out of her mind.

Or at least, it looked as if she were bored to anybody who didn't know her. Underneath her bored and unhappy façade, Sakura was scared. Her mind kept replaying the scene over and over again, and a small voice in her mind whispered:

"_Sasuke has joined Akatsuki…"_

That was the last straw. He had now _officially _betrayed his home village and comrades. Sakura felt the telltale prickling at the back of her eyes, but she overrode her sorrow with resentment. She couldn't believe Sasuke would go this far. He had become completely unpredictable, and she felt fear—real, raw fear—for whatever the future held.

She contemplated him for a minute longer, before suddenly snapping out of it. Shaking her head, she stared at the far wall.

Her options were scant, and none of them looked very promising. She could refuse to cooperate at all with Sasuke and his new pals, the Akatsuki. The result would be an enraged Uchiha Madara—probably—and her swift demise. And even if not death immediately, then torture.

Option one: rejected.

The next option was to go along with them without putting up a fight. But then what? Watch and do nothing while her ex-teammate planned the downfall of her village? She bristled at the idea.

Option two: rejected.

Or option three… go along with them _for now_, be sneaky, and watch them closely for any signs of flaws in their defence. But for her to be allowed to wander among them freely, she'd have to join the Akatsuki temporarily.

Option three: …the most possible of the options.

Her teeth ground together in frustration.

She didn't like her choices. Join Akatsuki? She still recoiled automatically at the hated name. Would she be able to pull of a stunt like this and survive_ and_ stay loyal to her village?

Sakura was beginning to hate questions.

In order to be able to slip away with the info on Akatsuki, she'd have to have some sort of advantage beforehand already, something they wouldn't have counted on…

Her thoughts immediately went to her kekkai genkai, but her hopes deflated in an instant. Madara knew that she was a Rokukan, she reminded herself. It wouldn't fool him.

But… what happened if she used something even he didn't know about the Rokukan's second mind?

Her eyes glinted. To beat Madara, to get out of this mess, she'd have to beat the elder Uchiha—and all the Akatsuki—depending on how much she knew about her bloodline limit. Her pride rose to the challenge: this would be a clash between her and Madara, she just knew it. And the outcome would depend on who knew more about the Rokukan.

The odds were these:

Haruno Sakura, newest member to the Rokukan Temple, taught under the High Priest, her uncle, and wielder of an exceptionally powerful second mind.

Uchiha Madara, an old, experienced, calculating mastermind who had been spying on the stars and gathering information of utmost value and secrecy.

Did she have much of a chance?

"…"

Maybe a teeny, tiny chance. It was a bet. A gamble. Sakura grinned.

'_Shishou would approve of this', _she was sure.

Eager to try, she sat up straight and crossed her legs, placing her folded hands in her lap. Closing her eyes, she slowed her breathing, willing her heartbeat to calm. She hoped nobody would check up on her soon—she was going to need a lot of time to score her entire second mind for all its secrets.

XxXxX

When Juugo was sent to retrieve Sakura from her room two hours later, he was met by a surprising sight.

After he'd knocked softly and called "Sakura-san?" in a polite tone and gotten no answer, he'd just let himself in, sliding the heavy bolts open. He wished that Sasuke hadn't sent him to get Sakura—staring at the heavily armed door reminded him of his own suffering days back in Orochimaru's base.

His amber eyes locked on the pinkette.

"Sakura-san?" he asked again, uncertainty radiating off his posture. "What is it? What are you doing?"

She didn't answer.

Quickly, he crossed the tiny room in two strides and knelt down to look at her, one hand reaching out to grasp her wrist and feel the pulse.

Her heartbeat was steady and strong.

Her eyes were closed, he observed. Not scrunched closed as if she were in pain—they were merely shut, completely relaxed. As if she were sleeping.

It would have been believable were she not sitting ramrod straight, legs crossed, and shoulders sloped to a relaxed, and yet completely controlled position. Her face was tilted upwards, too, not looking at all like a sleeping person.

His eyebrows nearly met as he frowned at the fragile looking pinkette.

'_I should get Sasuke-sama', _he finally decided. Straightening and turning, he quickly left the room and slid the bolts shut.

Continuing down the maze-like hallways, he quickened his pace as he wondered what Sakura was doing. Was she trying to gather herself for some powerful jutsu, he wondered, or was she just ignoring him?

He arrived in the main hall, waiting politely after he'd knocked until he heard Sasuke's low voice respond.

Opening the door, he nodded respectfully at the young Uchiha before saying softly:

"I couldn't retrieve Sakura-san, Sasuke-sama."

"Doushita?" Sasuke asked bluntly.

Juugo hesitated, his eyes troubled as he answered:

"I… don't know. She seems to be… in a trance-like state. Forgive me for not bringing more details, Sasuke-sama…"

He trailed off as Sasuke stood, brushing past him as he opened the door wide and exited the room, heading towards where Sakura was staying.

Even though his perfect stoic mask stayed intact, he was slightly alarmed at Juugo's cryptic report. In a trance? What the hell was that kunoichi doing? Had she foolishly committed suicide…?

Then he remembered her fiery green gaze when she'd refused to join the Akatsuki.

'_No',_ he thought, _'she is too attached to life to kill herself.'_

But even so… he sped along the hallway, a small nagging voice at the back of his mind wondering if she was desperate—and stupid—enough to give up so easily.

He stopped in front of her door, opening it in a heartbeat, and was in her room in a flash.

It was serenely silent in Sakura's room; only her soft breathing disturbed the quiet. Sasuke's brow furrowed as he gazed at her. He copied what Juugo had done, feeling her pulse and scanning her features. They were completely lax, her eyes closed, and her heart was still beating normally, albeit a bit on the slow side.

'_What's going on?' _he wondered.

Little did he know, Sakura had embarked on a unique adventure that Sasuke wouldn't be able to match even in his wildest dreams.

XxXxX

'_First things first', _Sakura thought grimly. She prepared herself for a rush of theory and lessons, as if she were back in the Academy at the very beginning of her ninja career.

She quickly pulled her entire consciousness into her second mind, leaving her main mind empty. She then proceeded to push her second mind out of her body. It slumped as her awareness left, and Sakura tried to find anything new in this mode.

Nothing.

She returned to her body, causing it to snap back up straight. Transferring half of her consciousness back into her main mind, she left her body again, but this time she could still move her body. Again, she searched for anything special while doing this, but again, she found nothing.

So finally, she joined her two minds together.

Her vision blurred for a second, but then everything snapped back into focus. Her previously dim cell now seemed flooded with light thanks to her enhanced eyesight, and she could hear her heartbeat echoing off the stone walls. She could smell old bed stuffing, feathers, a faint trace of her shampoo, paint, the shower's glass doors, and… and… the smells overwhelmed her. And also—though it seems disgusting, it wasn't really—Sakura could taste her own saliva on her tongue, albeit very faintly. With a jolt, occurred to her that she couldn't smell her own scent.

'_This is like what Kiba explained all those years back. He said it's hard to smell your own scent since you're so used to it.' _She realized.

She probed around in her joint mind, and found the 'switch'—as she called it—in a corner. Flicking it on, she felt some chakra leak out of her to boost the ability to read people's minds.

A host of loud thoughts intruded in her head.

"—_stupid, pink-haired slut! What a hussy! Who does she think she is?! Little conniving bi—"_

"—_can't believe the nerve of him! Arg! DAMN YOU HOSHIGAKI!"_

"—_wasn't very nice. Ne, Black Zetsu?" __**"Of course it wasn't nice, baka. He was attacking us!"**_

Sakura shivered. She did not need to Karin's, Suigetsu's, and Zetsus' minds. Quickly, she scanned the 'switch' in her mind, finding nothing, and turned it off. Her chakra stopped flowing from her immediately.

Even though her body still didn't move, she sighed inwardly.

All this led her to the belief that the only thing left she could do was talk to the stars. A shiver ran through her thoughts. She was extremely reluctant to talk to the heavenly beings, but it seemed that they could be her only help at the moment.

'_It's the only way', _she told herself sternly,_ 'I just hope it's night or at least evening outside, otherwise I will have to work much harder to reach them.'_

Her heartbeat slowed further as she concentrated, moulding her thoughts into intense currents. She tried to make her mental 'voice' as loud as possible before finally opening herself to the corner of her mind where she could meet the stars.

Cool, icy voices blasted through her mind, numbing her, and almost stealing her concentration. To Sakura's shock, the number of chiming voices seemed to have multiplied since she'd last heard them. And they were all angrily jangling in a chaotic whirl.

Even though she stiffened in alarm at the furious onslaught of voices, she forced herself to delve right into the middle of it.

Hard, angry, _freezing cold_ voices showered her thoughts with frost and she listened in awe and horror at the power in their otherworldly presences.

"—_he doing here again?"_

"_Does it matter? Just teach her the signal!"_

"_Don't do anything brash! Consider this for a moment."_

"_We've __**had **__had 'a moment'. We've had nearly a century to deal with this… unpleasant scenario."_

"_The signal?! Have you taken leave of your senses! Even though he's made his move, we don't have to react so strongly!"_

"_I agree. And no amount of arguing amongst ourselves will solve any problems!"_

"_Easy for you to say!" _another star hissed venomously. At once, peals and sharp notes of their chiming voices drowned out any individual conversations as they hissed at each other violently. The argument stopped abruptly when one particularly loud star spoke.

"_Be silent!" _this voice held cutting authority.

Silence.

"_M—Master…" _a single star whispered.

Sakura's attention immediately was roused. Master? Who could be a master of the stars? She decided that now was the time to make herself known.

"_Greetings, everybody!" _she let her call ring out over the… well, wherever these stars were speaking.

She felt, more than heard, all the attention come to rest on her, dragged away from this 'Master' they were speaking about.

"_Rokukan-san!"_

"_It's the Rokukan Bridge!"_

"_What is she doing here?"_

Sakura tightened her intense concentration, and suddenly, flashes of scenery lit up in front of her eyes. But just as quickly as they came, the images disappeared.

"_Rokukan-san," _the authoritive voice greeted her, _"It is good that you have come."_

"_Um, nice to meet you too, Master…?" _she trailed off, hoping that the star would understand her silent inquiry of who it was.

"_No, you should not know my name, Rokukan-san. Not yet."_

"_Very well," _she answered, surging on to the next question. _"I know I sound rude and rushed, but what is all the commotion about?"_

"_Ah, that…" _the star sighed. _"We have been having more… difficulties with Uchiha Madara."_

"_Nani? What did he do this time?"_

"… _We keep receiving sparks of his intent. You see, you are a Rokukan, even if only half. You can communicate with us, the stars. And unless you yourself wish so, you are not in contact with us. Madara, however, can initiate contact as well. But only somebody with a particularly strong second mind can do so, and __**Uchiha **__Madara is definitely not a __**Rokukan**__." _The star paused before continuing in a heavy voice, _"We do not know how he is able to do this. A second mind is not something one can physically steal, nor extract by any means. It seems, though, that Madara can't quite shut the contact off with us, so we constantly hear a small indicator of his intentions and thoughts. It isn't enough to actually discern anything, but we can sense a particularly ominous flavour in him at the moment."_

Sakura mulled over the information. How could Madara do this? It made no sense. Quickly, she informed the listening stars,

"_I tried to break into his mind recently, but it did not work. Something is blocking his mind."_

"_Most likely insanity," _a sullen voice chimed, but was quickly shut up by its comrades. Sakura continued as if she hadn't heard, but inside, she giggled.

"_I am trapped in the Akatsuki base, and I need an escape route as soon as possible. I hate to bother you all, but is there any way you could give me a hand?"_

There ensued a long, cold silence before the commanding star broke it, saying:

"_Rokukan-san, you don't understand."_

"_What don't I understand?" _she bit back her impatience.

"_We are stars. We do not have any means to interfere with the mortal world. Of course, we may wish for better times, but there are limits as to what we are permitted to do. Helping you out may seem like a simple request, but we can see that it will have drastic consequences."_

"_But surely there is something you can do?"_

"_All we can do is give you advice, and maybe a few pointers on your Kami no Gifuto, your kekkai genkai. That is all."_

Sakura's face fell. She really needed to get out this situation. Sitting in an Akatsuki base wasn't her idea of safety.

"_Can you give me these pointers, hoshi no minna-san?" _she finally asked.

A heartbeat of silence, then a star piped up. It had a peculiar voice, even more beautiful than the others. It seemed amused.

"_Give the hatchling a chance! She deserves a shot at it!"_

Murmurs erupted as the stars whispered amongst themselves agitatedly.

"_Order!" _the cutting voice interjected. Silence was immediate once more. The authoritive star waited for all the others to still before rounding on the beautiful voice.

"_It's not your choice to hand out chances, Hime-sama" _it said. _"You have no rank in this Court."_

"_I have no rank, yes, but I am a Princess, as you said so yourself,"_ the other—and apparently royal—star retorted with indignation. _"Have you not __**seen**__ the land? Have you not __**felt**__ the changes? You sit and wait for the perfect opportunity to step in, but you wait, and you wait… and never act!"_

An indecipherable chime burst from the 'Master' star, something as close to stuttering as a star can get. Sakura got the impression that even though the 'Master' apparently led this 'Court' and the 'Princess' didn't, he still had to respect her.

"_In my opinion," _the royal star went on, _"We should give young Sakura-chan a chance at the Teachings of the Rokukan's kekkai genkai."_

More murmurs rose, this time more excited than the last. Sakura was shocked to hear her name uttered so fondly by this star.

For several long moments seemed like eternity, the lead star remained silent. The other stars whispered with one another, tense and eager to hear the outcome of the Princess star's suggestion.

Finally, the commanding star spoke.

"_I accept your proposal," _it said, _"But under one condition: You keep the three Secrets to yourself, and do not even think of teaching her the Signal. Do you understand?"_

"_Of course," _the royal star shot back, sounding insulted.

"_Alright, it settled. Everybody, move back and give Rokukan-san some space!"_

Sakura listened in amazement as the bright, chiming voices of the stars faded until they disappeared. Then, all of the sudden, the Princess star spoke right into her mind, its voice so clear that it startled her.

"_So, now we are alone," _the star said. _"I can help you with your kekkai genkai to an extent."_

"_How?" _Sakura struggled to get a clear picture of what was going on. _"I don't even know who you are!"_

It seemed to her that the Princess star was shrugging, but she only felt a vague impression.

"_You won't be able to say my name, youngster."_

"_Please?"_

"_As you wish. My name is */!#%+. Nice to meet you, Rokukan Sakura."_

"… _Uh, nice to meet you too." _Sakura tried her best to convert the ringing, crystal name of the star into sounds that she could speak, but failed. Finally, she coughed with embarrassment and said:

"_I—well, I can't really say that."_

"_I told you so."_

"_Aa, that's why I'm just going to call you Seiki-san. Is that okay?"_

"_The Star Princess?" _the star seemed amused. _"You're not so far from it. Now, ask away!"_

"_Seiki-san, I know by now that I can force somebody's body to move. Can I change people's thoughts with my second mind?" _Sakura's thoughts briefly flickered to Sasuke, who was, unbeknownst to her, actually at the moment bending over her, examining her.

"_No, Sakura-chan. To do so you would have to be able to come in clear contact with that person's mind. You see, what you think of as reading minds is actually only reading thoughts. Not the mind itself. You can only hear the verbal and emotional flow from a person. To change their thoughts… no, you would have to use an extremely powerful genjutsu, and that is possibly unique."_

Disappointed, Sakura's hopes died down, before she asked:

"_What is this unique genjutsu?" _

"_You probably know, Sakura-chan. It belongs to an Uchiha. A very specific Uchiha, to be exact."_

"_The Mangekyou," _Sakura realized, spitting out the name with distaste.

"_Yes."_

"_Is the wielder still alive, Seiki-san?"_

"_No. Uchiha Shisui is dead."_ The name seemed familiar. The pinkette tried to place the name, but failed. Suddenly, an image of Uchiha Itachi and another of his Clan popped up in her mind.

"_Oh! He was Itachi's friend, wasn't he?"_

"_Very good," _Seiki sounded pleased.

"_What did Shisui's eyes exactly do?"_

"… _I cannot tell. We are not the Uchiha's masters. Their Clan belongs to a completely different ruler."_

"_Ruler?"_

"_The… goodness, how should I explain this? I don't think I'll even try."_

"_But—"_

"_Hush, youngling. Time runs short. The others have given us privacy, but the time is limited. Ask what you need. Now."_

"_Hai…" _Sakura racked her brain for a question that could maybe tip the events in her favour.

"_Is there a way I can transport dissolve my body? So that it'll be like my mind and cross limitations like distance?"_

"_What you speak of is simple Materialization. Unfortunately, that option is not at your disposal. Shinobi have discovered ways of Teleportation, but that is different. Teleportation is when you take your body and mind as a whole object. At the goal of your jutsu, you take something from there—say, smoke—and exchange its spot for yourself. Materializing, however, is dissolving the matter of your body. You become entirely like your mind—without limitations of time and space. With Materialization, you can appear at the other side of the world and manipulate the time at the same time."_

Sakura struggled to comprehend all the information. Seiki was talking very fast and even though Sakura was pretty good at understanding stars, it was still hard to concentrate on a motor-mouthing star. Annoyance prickled within her, adding with the nervous, tense state of her mind at the dwindling time.

"_Why isn't Materialization possible for me?"_

"_Because if you'd take your body apart, you'd die," _Seiki answered matter-of-factly.

"_Oh." _Indeed, that was a profound problem. More irritating blockages. _"But there has to be __**some**__ way I can get out of here and back to Konoha!"_

"… _Possibly."_

Sakura's irritation boiled over at Seiki's evasive answers. Without meaning to, nor noticing it, she blew her top.

"_Seiki-san, I don't mean to be rude, but my __**teammate**__ wants to destroy my __**home**__! He's even ganged up with the __**Akatsuki**__, the absolute __**worst**__ bunch of criminals ever! Plus he's with that… that repulsive ancestor of his, __**Uchiha Madara**__. I __**need **__to get to Konoha!"_

"_Sakura… what exactly do you wish to achieve?"_

Sakura immediately rushed to explain herself, frustration fuelling her angry tirade.

"_If I could get out of here, I'd go to Konoha and tell the Hokage what had happened, also of Uchiha Madara's existence. Then, I'd urge her to tell the other Kages, most likely the Kazekage first, since he's on the friendliest terms with Konoha out of all the other villages. Then… then…" _Sakura halted abruptly, realizing that, beyond what she had said, she had no idea what to do. If she were still in control of her body, she would have blushed.

"_Sakura, if you have no plan, then I cannot help."_

Shame burned through the pinkette. Here she was, wildly yelling and screaming her thoughts to a superior being without thinking first. It was the same as bursting into a Five-Kage Summit Meeting while declaring she would take out God himself with a pin. How mortifying.

"_S… Sumimasen, Seiki-san. I lost my head."_

"_Good, Sakura-chan. Not all are willing to admit that."_

"_But what now?"_

"… _Let's look at the first part you told me. Always begin with the basics. You said you wanted to tell the Hokage—why can't you? You already know how to expand your second mind. Remember, it goes through walls and is unbound by laws of physics. Isn't that so?"_

"…" Sakura felt foolish. _"Uh, yes…"_

"_Excellent. So you can fill that part already."_

"_Aa. But what next?"_

"_Think, Sakura-chan, how would your Hokage react?"_

Sakura thought about it. Yes, how would Tsunade react? She'd be furious, that was certain. She'd send out an army to confront the Akatsuki—Sasuke—and try to disable the organization.

But then again, Konohagakure did not have the means to go up against Akatsuki. No, from what Sakura had seen, Madara alone was enough of a threat. And she'd only seen a fraction of his powers. What was Madara up to, anyways?

So, Tsunade would send for help. But the other Kages wouldn't cooperate, not until…

Sakura sucked in a breath in horror as realization dawned on her.

"_There's going to be a War."_

Her thoughts whirled in a chaotic dance. It was inevitable, she concluded. There would be war one way or the other. Whether Madara or a Hidden Village declared it, that didn't matter. But Madara was sure to declare war sooner or later. He was a psychopath, and what do all crazy people do? Try to take over the world, of course. And what's the signature next move of world dominators? The pinkette felt her whirling thoughts come to a stop.

The next move was always… killing off allies who threatened to take the throne. And that meant…

"_Oh, Kami-sama!" _Sakura fretted.

Seiki interjected with her cool, chiming voice.

"_So, what is your goal?"_

"… _Sasuke is going to be used as a pawn," _Sakura's voice cracked with disgust. _"As usual. Oh, for Kami's sake! Konno bakayaro!"_

"_Anything else?" _Seiki asked, and Sakura shook her head vigorously in her mind.

"_No. Arigato gozaimasu, Seiki-hime. I already have a lead to work on."_

"_That is good. I have advice for you, Sakura-chan, before you go."_

"_Eh?"_

"_There is something else you can do with your joint mind. No other Rokukan has achieved what you have for over centuries. A proper balance of the two minds. Please keep it a secret."_

"_That's why there are no records of this?" _Sakura was curious about what Seiki was telling her, but impatience made her restless.

"_Aa. Sakura… there are many, many more powers that lurk beneath the surface of this joint mind of yours. Take time to explore it, and also… some powers may need a trigger, just like how you have to kill your best friend to gain the Mangekyou Sharingan."_

Sakura recoiled at the mention of the Mangekyou, but recovered swiftly, saying:

"_Arigato. I… I can't thank you enough."_

Seiki waved it off.

"_Now go. You have to tell your Hokage. But wait!" _she called as Sakura made to withdraw. _"Have you learned anything today, Sakura?"_

Again, Sakura would have blushed with the memory of how she shamed herself.

"_Hai. Keep calm. Don't let your tongue run away from you."_

"_Not just your tongue, but your actions and feelings, too." _Seiki sounded satisfied. _"Also, I feel much __**fear **__in you, Sakura. Fear is a good servant, but a bad master. Do not let it overcome you." _Her tone lightened. _"Now, Good Luck! Go! May the blessings of the Star Princess follow you, Rokukan-san!"_

"_Hai!" _Sakura smiled. She felt herself falling, falling, falling…

With a jerk, she snapped her eyes open, gasping. For a few seconds, all she could do was stare straight in front of her, gazing into blank orbs of black that immediately spun into red.

"Sakura?"

'_That's Sasuke's voice…' _she realized dimly. His voice seemed to be coming from far away. Still blinking, she tried to focus her eyes properly on her ex-teammate who had jumped up and away from her the moment she'd opened her eyes.

"S-Sasuke…?" her mouth didn't work quite right yet. She'd never been so deep in meditation that she'd nearly lost contact to her body. She finally managed to clear her vision, and immediately wished she hadn't. Now, she had to explain herself to a pissed and suspicious Uchiha.

XxXxX

When Sasuke had just decided to grab Sakura's arms and shake her out of whatever trance she was in, her eyes had snapped open, startling him. His Sharingan whirred to life without his conscious permission and in his surprise, he'd leapt clear.

"Sakura?" he asked warily.

"S-Sasuke…?" She seemed to have trouble speaking, he noted. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused, and her heart pounded unevenly and erratically.

What had she been doing? Mistrust welled up inside of him, but he didn't let it show on his face.

"What were you doing?" he asked flat out.

He noticed the way she jumped before defensively hunching her shoulders, as if on reflex.

"Nothing!" she retorted.

A small scowl formed on Sasuke's face. There was definitely something suspicious going on with Sakura.

"Tell me."

"No."

"Sakura!" he growled in warning.

She tried to stand, but her legs were still shaky. He didn't offer her assistance, still mistrustful of her actions.

"I'm not going to tell you," she said lowly. To his surprise, her emerald green eyes seemed to be holding a frantic, desperate light that she was trying to hold back. Her voice hadn't been shaking, but he had detected the slightest note of hysteria.

What had happened? How dare she not tell him? It had to be an important secret, he could tell from her almost panicking expression. And if it was that important, it had something to do with him, dammit!

He glared at her, willing her to spill the truth for him to see. She glared right back, but her eyes were too fearful to make her glare effective. What he didn't know was that she wasn't fearful _of _him… but _for _him. How ironic. It had been the other way around before she'd talked to Seiki.

They stared each other down for full five minutes.

As he glowered at her, he scrutinized her eyes for any and all hints. What he saw made him grit his teeth together.

He saw fear, desperation, outright _horror_… but above all that, he saw determination. No matter how much he pressed the issue… she wouldn't tell.

Furious, he broke the eye contact and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Sakura blinked in shock when he disappeared so quick it was impossible to see, before she heard the bolts sliding into place.

Shivering, she tried to pull herself together. It had taken every ounce of self-control to remain defiant and blank under Sasuke's intense eyes. It always was, and it would always be so. His red and black eyes had literally pierced her heart, tomoes spinning lethally. She had forgotten about the Sharingan, forgotten about the danger she was in… she had focused entirely on _not_ giving in to his glare like she used to.

Sakura released a shuddering breath, slumping back down to her cot. A small, grim smile lit the corners of her lips.

It had been damn near impossible, but she had made it.

"_Keep calm. I feel much fear in you, Sakura. Fear is a good servant, but a bad master."_

Yes, that was what Seiki had told her. Before, Sakura had nearly drowned in its smothering presence. But now, Sakura had wrestled down her fear. Now, _fear _was ready to dance to _her_ whistle. And she was damn set on keeping it like that.

XxXxX

XxXxX

**A/N**

Ooh, so angsty! xD The part where Seiki says: "I feel much fear in you" almost made me laugh out loud. I could just imagine Yoda, his eyes closed, nodding his head wisely at little Sakura and saying that line. Hahaha…

Anyways, thanks so much again, reviewers! I nearly, nearly, _nearly _didn't manage to get through this chapter, but I kept reading your awesome reviews and then went straight to writing again. :) I love all of you so damn much!

I probably won't ever be able to crank out the weekly updates anymore. I'm switching to a new school and a new class (who are all bound to be assholes with my luck) and… well, apparently it's a very competitive school too. _*sigh*_ Life sucks.

Itachi: "Like you would know." _*rolls eyes*_

Me: "Of course I know!"

Itachi: _*thinking of murdering his Clan, leading his brother astray, dying when said brother needed him most, being betrayed by Madara…*_ "… No, you don't."

Me: _*sticks tongue out*_ "Well, of course you'd be all doom and gloom, Ita-chan! Anyways, the point is, nobody's life is all sunshine and rainbows. So scat, you're dead, remember?"

Itachi: _*suddenly rubs hands with an evil cackle* _"But I always come back! (Thankfully) Muahahahaha!"

Me: "… You're hopeless. Anyways, please review! It totally makes my day!"

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Doushita? – Why?

Sumimasen – Sorry (in this case more like 'please forgive me')

Konno bakayaro! – That complete idiot!

Arigato gozaimasu – Thank you so much! (This is what I feel like saying to you readers over and over again xD)

XxXxX


	16. Chapter 16

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_Strength comes from the heart._

XxXxX

**A/N**

I love reviews! *tackles readers* And I love, love, LOVE my awesome reviewers! I feel sooo bad that I let you guys hang in suspense for so long… I really want to thank you guys to sticking to me. Now! Ja ne! See ya all at the end of this chapter!

XxXxX

**Chapter 16**

A quiet, but firm knock sounded at the door.

Madara glanced up and closed the drawer he'd been rifling through, securing his mask back in place with the same smooth movement. He hadn't even made a sound.

"Come in, Sasuke," he said, amusement colouring his voice.

The door swung open and said young Uchiha coolly entered, his team trailing after him timidly. Even though they were skilled ninja, they still held more than just a little fear towards Madara, and couldn't quite conceal it. Sasuke felt… uneasy, let's just say, but he hid it far better than they did.

"Ah, konbawa, Sasuke," Madara said, rising to his feet and ignoring the three others. "Please, have a seat." He gestured towards a long table, moving towards it himself.

Once they had all arranged themselves around the long table, Madara started:

"Sasuke-kun, I hope all is well?"

"Hn."

"Ever so talkative, I see. Well, no reason to dither; I'll get straight to the point. You see, I unfortunately have limited time to complete some steps towards the restoration of the Uchiha Clan's full glory. To do so, I need all the Jinchuriki. Two are yet missing in my collection."

Sasuke silently stared at Madara, his black eyes piercing, and said flatly:

"What is it?"

Madara cast a proofing look over Team Taka before elaborating:

"I want you four to retrieve a Jinchuriki for me."

Something inside of Sasuke's squeezed uncomfortably. He knew that one of these two Jinchuriki was most likely Naruto. What if he had to fight him…?

A dark voice in his mind tamped the thought down before it could even fully develop.

'_**For the Clan… for my brother…' **_it hissed.

"What would you give us in return?" he asked.

"If you succeed, I'll give you full control of one of the demons," Madara said, smirking under his mask. "Of course, that's only if the mission is successful, no?"

Sasuke was silent as he weighed the odds. He could only imagine how much power one of these demons possessed. In a way, he had almost envied Naruto for his endless supply of chakra, consequences be blowed.

"… I'll do it."

"Good. You will go to Kumogakure and retrieve the Hachibi."

Interest perked inside of Sasuke—he was curious to meet another Jinchuriki apart from Naruto.

"When do we leave?"

"Nah-uh, not so fast," Madara dramatically waved a finger around. "You will need to train up a bit, and you're not quite healed yet. Outside, yes, but inside, no. You should rest up three days before going after the Eight Tails."

Sasuke glared at Madara, his cool gaze giving way to a glowering stare. Was this guy insinuating that he was weak?

As if reading the young man's mind and wanting to bruise Sasuke's pride further, Madara stood, leisurely shoving his chair back under the table.

"That's all for now," he mused, "you can all go back to your… activities."

"Wait, wait, wait," Suigetsu suddenly burst out. He felt a chill sweep down his back as Madara slowly turned, sending a red-eyed glare over his shoulder at him, but surged onwards:

"Are we going to retrieve _two _Jinchuriki in all… or just this one?"

"Only this one," the elder Uchiha confirmed.

"Which other demon is missing?"

"… the Kyuubi. But that has nothing to do with you. Somebody… _else _is getting him. He left a day ago already."

Without further ado, Madara suddenly blurred into a spiral of whirling air and disappeared. As he appeared across the base, heading towards his personal lab, he smirked evilly.

'_Come on, Nagato, you don't have that Rin'negan for nothing,' _he thought, _'Use that dojutsu of yours and __**get me that Kyuubi!**__'_

XxXxX

"Nagato…" she murmured as she felt the paper rose in her hair suddenly came free and floated through the air to land on the ground, unfolding as it did. She watched as the man in front of her turned, giving her an impassive glance through one ringed eye.

"Let's stop for a minute."

Rin'negan eyes considered her request, before he dipped his chin in a tiny nod. He stopped, and the five other people around stopped also.

"We go on in exactly a minute," he ordered.

"Hai," Konan nodded. She gracefully knelt, plucking the crinkled sheet of paper from the ground. She was aware that all six bodies of Pain watched her—with twelve eyes— as she smoothed the sheet with a single motion and folded it into a rose again. Instead of using her chakra, she slowly folded and creased it by hand, simply relishing the feeling of origami under her fingers.

"That ornament is unnecessary, Konan," the lead Pain, Tendou, admonished, his voice perfectly emotionless. "It will only get in the way."

Konan fingered the newly made rose, her eyes dropping nearly shut.

"I can't give it up," she breathed, barely above a whisper. "You know I can't, Nagato. The first time I made a rose like this…" she held it up to check for any crinkles on the bottom before continuing. "You remember too, don't you? _He _loved it… _he _said that it suited my hair so well…" her throat clogged, but her expression didn't change.

For a few tense heartbeats, neither Konan nor Pain spoke. But then the lead Pain suddenly whipped around, stalking forwards, the rest of them following suit.

"We're moving out," he said stiffly. "We still have half a day's travel to the Hidden Leaf." They left without a glance at the purple haired kunoichi who rose to pin the rose in her hair. She gazed at their retreating backs, a surprisingly fierce feeling welling up inside of her. It was unusual for her to let such a strong emotion wash over her, but she couldn't help but notice why it had come up in the first place.

Nagato… the boy she had saved and grown up with… had definitely changed. And it _hurt_. It _hurt _to see him use Yahiko's body to speak so emotionlessly, when the real Yahiko she had known was so full of life. She had been against using his body as one of the Pains, but Nagato had told her it was the only way to preserve it without embalming it in some glass container. She had reluctantly agreed, then, to let him use Yahiko's body. But she still didn't like it.

Silently, she followed her companion. She was not looking forward to when they reached Konohagakure. She acknowledged that it was necessary, but she did not want to do what had to be done. Because when she did… thousands of families would be ripped apart once more.

XxXxX

"We leave in three days," Sasuke's voice was commanding, the voice of an alpha. There was no room for argument.

Nonetheless, even as he nodded, Juugo's thoughts wandered to the pinkette trapped in her room. In his mind, he could see the chains and bolts holding her door shut. How would she be feeling, he wondered, trapped like an animal in a cage?

As the four of them headed towards the training area, Juugo made sure to keep right behind Sasuke. When he deemed them far away enough from Madara's eavesdropping, he asked:

"Sasuke-sama, is the kunoichi going to be okay with your chakra seal on her?"

Black eyes slanted to the side in an impassive stare.

"She'll be fine."

Juugo dipped his head in submission. Sasuke was his saviour, his only reason to fight his seizures and live in the world again. Kimimaro would have wanted him to, after all. When Sasuke said that he would do nothing about Sakura, then he'd just have to live with it.

The young Uchiha, meanwhile, had forgotten about Sakura mere minutes after Juugo mentioned her. He was speculating how hard it would be to take down a tailed beast.

'_If he's anything like Naruto, he'll be easy,' _the young man reasoned. He remembered the clash with the loudmouth blonde at the Valley End. They'd both been younger and less experienced. Sasuke was sure that Naruto had progressed, but then again, so had he. And he was confident that he could take on a Jinchuriki. If he got any scrapes or anything, Karin would heal him anyways.

What would he do with a Biju? He wanted nothing more than to unleash it on Konoha, but he was unsure how far his influence with the Sharingan could reach. He knew that his kekkai genkai could control the Kyuubi, but what about the others? Would it be just as effective?

Otherwise, he could always just release it in the middle of Konoha. That would cause enough damage. Yes, he would be satisfied with that.

XxXxX

Sakura stood in the shower, letting the cascade of freezing cold water on her back numb her. She was using it just as an excuse for nobody to check up on her. If she wanted to reach Tsunade, she'd have to be undisturbed.

But she wished that that asshole Madara had given her warm water at least. The cold was slowly working itself into her muscles. She would have to be quick.

Closing her eyes, she allowed her consciousness to split, the process so practiced that it was almost effortless. She entered her second mind within seconds and left her body.

Its expansion was explosive. Rapidly, it spread from her body and swamped the base. She felt the glow of four people's chakra—it was Sasuke's Team, she realized—and also Madara's signature. She hurriedly swerved away from the elder Uchiha's chaotic chakra.

Quickly, she sent out her tendril of thought towards Konoha. It felt like she was flying, her mind was faster than the speed of light—

—her mind slammed into a solid wall full force.

Inside her head, Sakura screamed. Pain hit her like a physical blow, turning her vision white for a few horrifying seconds.

Recovering, she managed to save herself from falling face-first into the white tiled shower wall. When she'd blacked out, she had lost her balance.

'_What the hell was that?' _she thought, bewildered.

Suddenly, something grabbed hold of her questing second mind. No, not 'grabbed', that was a physical term… more like 'surrounded'. And suddenly, a heavy blanket of dark thoughts descended on her.

'_**My, my, Sakura-chan,' **_a mocking voice reverberated through her mind with such intensity that it almost made her thoughts vibrate. _**'So naughty. I can't have you tattling to Konoha, can I?'**_

'_Madara!' _the thought shot through her head.

The dark voice chuckled with sadistic glee.

'_**That's right, Hime-san.'**_

Sakura's thoughts reeled back in alarm. Usually, if she was in contact with other minds, they wouldn't hear her thoughts unless she directed her words to them purposefully. How could Madara read all her thoughts?

Amusement radiated from the Uchiha, and Sakura retreated further. But it was a futile attempt; Madara's mind coiled around hers tighter as he cooed:

'_**Aw, Sakura-chan! You're not seriously frightened of me, are you?'**_

Yes, she was. Back in the shower, she bit down on her hand, hard, to muffle her gasp. Her second mind was being squeezed, and somehow, she suspected that even her almost immortal mind could be killed.

'_**That's right, Blossom,' **_Madara gloated. _**'You're suspicions are correct. There is a way to kill a second mind.'**_

'_H… How?' _her 'voice' faltered.

'_**Ah-ah, Sakura-chan. That's my secret, you know.'**_

Anger boiled up inside of the pinkette, but she quickly evened out her countenance. It would do no good to get mad and lose focus.

'_You're not going to stop me,' _she said fiercely.

'_**I wouldn't be so sure of that, my girl!' **_As he uttered the last word, his mind suddenly dove at Sakura's, entering halfway.

Alarm bells went off inside her head as her mind automatically fought the intrusion. She understood what he was trying to do. Whatever second mind he had, he was trying to slip it into hers and so take over her. Her vision went crimson as she fended off his mental attack.

He was _everywhere_. Tendrils of thought reached out to invade her childhood memories while others stretched to isolate her current thoughts, throttling them. She attacked back, shifting her memories out of his reach, letting them whirl through her mind in a chaotic dance. Flashes of faces zipped past her inner eye.

Her mother. Iruka-sensei. The Sandaime Hokage. Ino. Her memories were just a tumble of confusion.

Wrenching her current thoughts out of his grasp, she sent them flying with a burst of raw spiritual energy. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered Takeshi telling her about the two types of energy, and how thoughts were _built_ out of spiritual energy. She beat back several sneaking tendrils of Madara's mind before snatching all her memories back and shoving them into a corner of her mind.

'_**Very good, Sakura, very good,' **_Madara chuckled. _**'But how will you handle this, I wonder?'**_

'_Handle what?' _she thought, before she froze with shock.

_Another_ mind was hurling itself towards her. It attacked as well, reinforcing Madara's second mind. Sakura felt herself being pushed back, parts of her mind showing openings. He didn't hesitate and secured his victory of those few parts.

'_Shit! Teme! __**Three**__ minds?! You're crazy!'_

'_**Ah, your compliments are flattering. Really, they are, Sakura-chan.' **_She almost felt him smiling. His words seemed to have tripled as three different voices spoke together.

A mental scream tore through her mind as she defended herself, struggling to keep her mind, her _self_ out of the evil man's grasp. She could feel herself slipping at the very edge when a fourth mind joined the fray, and a fifth.

'_I'm not going to last long like this,' _she thought frantically. In an act of desperation, she pulled the other half of her consciousness out of her main mind, using it to boost her sagging second mind. She winced as her body finally lost balance without any thoughts to guide it, slamming into the wall before falling to a crumpled heap.

'_**Not good enough,' **_Madara hissed, his five voices impatient.

Six. Seven. Eight. Mind after mind attacked Sakura. Her mind shook under the force of the assault. Bursts of her energy, fierce as lightning, beat back the attackers only to have the others surge forward.

'_I'm going to go insane,' _were her thoughts as a ninth leapt at her. She had barely survived with eight, how should she deal with a ninth as well?

Fire coursed down her thoughts as Madara's advancing forces slowly crushed down her mind. Nauseous, and barely conscious, she played her last card.

Her second mind glowed white hot as her main mind suddenly melted itself into a whole, welding itself together effortlessly. The last remnants of her main mind slipped out of her body, and suddenly… she was completely free.

Shock, fear and blank surprise caused Sakura to falter.

She was free. Completely and utterly free from her body. She was not material bound. She… she…

Her entire _being_ was completely free.

No physical pain could influence her. The pounding, freezing water of the shower could not harm her. The bruises from her fall in the shower did not even reach her. Her mind was free.

Renewed energy rushed through her mind. It _roared _with unrestrained strength. Hurling herself back at Madara, she brushed aside his minds with almost ridiculous ease. She realized immediately that even though her had the strength of multiple minds, he could not steer them well because his consciousness was divided into many, many small pieces. He only had one consciousness, after all.

'_Shannaro!' _

Her mind exploded energy, sending the other minds flying out of her. Now _she _advanced on Madara, targeting the mind he had used first.

'_That must be his strongest mind,'_ she thought.

Approaching it at an unreal speed, she prepared her thoughts for another fight, forging them into iron spears of concentration. She would win this.

XxXxX

Madara bolted upright from his seat, dissolving in a spiralled whirl. His breathing was laboured as his focus shook under Sakura's attack.

'_That brat…!' _he thought furiously.

He appeared in front of her door, sweating and jerking. The assault on his minds was so intense that he was beginning to see patches of black clouding his vision.

Yanking her door open he stormed in. Panting, he tore into her bathroom, following the sound of the shower going.

And there he found her body, slumped on the tiles under a heavy spray of freezing water.

'_Bitch!'_

His hand shot out, grabbing a handful of her pink hair and wrenching her upright. Her eyes were closed, her face perfectly smooth. Just as he thought, she had completely left her body.

A cruel smirk stretched his lips.

Time to show the girl exactly who was stronger.

XxXxX

Sakura was in the middle of invading Madara's… third? Fourth? Whatever, one of his minds, when his voice suddenly informed her:

'_**You'd better stop now, kunoichi.'**_

'_Why? Why the hell should I do that?' _she asked indignantly.

'_**Because you have made a foolish mistake. I have your body now, right here, in my hands. And I could kill you in a split second.'**_

'… _But that's just my body. I'm free of it.'_

'_**Heh, that's what you think. Have the Priests of the Rokukan Temple never told you? If your body dies, then your minds are not bound to earth any longer. You will die, Sa-ku-ra.'**_

Shock. Sakura turned, rushing back towards her body.

'_Don't you dare touch me!' _she screamed.

'_**Good girl. Come back and face your punishment!'**_

Sakura's joint mind literally jumped back into her body, her empty skull sucking in her mind like a vacuum.

For a couple of seconds, all her mind did was accommodate her empty shell fully, returning to its control centres and rightful place.

And then she blinked her eyes open.

Her vision was blurry and her head spun dizzily. Her limbs wouldn't obey her and pain shot through her scalp.

Tilting her face back, her eyes met furious red.

"About time," Madara growled, his voice sending tremors running up her back. The next moment, a gloved hand slapped her diagonally across her face. The sound was colossal, amplified by the small, close walls of the shower.

"You little bitch!" he fumed, his free hand catching the fist she aimed at him. He grasped her hand tighter, then slowly, he splayed her slender finger by pressing his thumb into her palm, hard.

"Let me go!" she cried, writhing in his grasp.

"No," he replied, his voice dark. And Sakura's next words were drowned out by her pain filled cry as he snapped her index finger with freakish ease.

"You went too far, Sakura-_chan_. Now, I will punish you for it, and you will learn your place," he sneered.

Sakura gritted her teeth as he snapped all the fingers of her right hand, one by one. A kick met her middle, sending her crashing into the far wall, a sickening crack echoing through the tiny room. Before she could even consider moving, he was upon her, grabbing her hair again and slamming her head into the wall.

Her ears rang.

Madara kept on smashing her head into the wall, anger blinding him to the point of near insanity. He sent a pulse of chakra into her when she fainted, waking her up again, only to smash the heel of his palm into her nose, breaking it. She wheezed, managing to avoid his punch to her sternum but cried out as he stomped on her foot simultaneously. She decided to let him unleash his fury on her and focus on staying conscious. Then she would be able to heal herself, at least.

Madara's punishment was harsh. He treated her body like a human punching bag, and Sakura suffered in silence. Stars danced in front of her eyes and she tasted the iron touch of blood in her mouth. He smashed his fist into her stomach three times, making her automatically retch onto the shower floor where her vomit was drained away by the water.

Only after a full hour of intense beating did Madara stop, his chest heaving and quivering with anger. His killing gaze glowered at her beaten, half-dead form before he growled:

"Consider yourself lucky, kunoichi, that I need you alive. Otherwise this would have been the end for you."

He pressed up against her and this time, she did cry out as he crushed her injuries. His single eye spun menacingly at her, causing hers to widen, before he snarled:

"And I'm not going to let you heal yourself, either."

The tomoes of his Sharingan spun even faster and knocked her out before she could say a word.

Carelessly, Madara let her fall, listening to crack of her forehead meeting the shower floor. With a growl of anger, he left, slamming the door and bolts shut behind him before flickering to his personal quarters.

Beating up the kunoichi hadn't been enough—in fact, he was even more furious now. He vowed to himself that he would punish her thoroughly… once he had no use of her anymore.

XxXxX

"Me first!" Suigetsu bellowed, rushing into the bathroom and slamming the door.

Juugo sighed, mildly annoyed, as he heard the water turn on. Even though Suigetsu was virtually water, he still had to wash like any other person.

All of Team Taka were sweaty and tired. Well, Sasuke was sweaty, but not tired. He glared at the door of the shower, inwardly cursing the ex-Mist nin for stealing the shower. And he knew that Suigetsu would take his time, just to annoy him.

An idea sparked in his mind.

Juugo started as his team leader suddenly stood, flickering to the door and opening it.

"Sasuke-sama, where are you going?" He didn't even finish his sentence as the door slammed shut.

Sasuke flash-stepped down the twisting hallways until he stood in front of Sakura's door. Irritation ran through him as he heard the shower going. Impatient—he did _not _like being sweaty—he opened her door and slipped in.

As soon as he stepped into her room, he noticed that something was wrong.

Splatters of blood decorated her floor, and a set of bloody footprints led from the bathroom to the door. Suspiciously, he flared his chakra to touch Sakura's.

He almost couldn't find it; it was that small. It beat unsteadily, almost dying completely before rallying itself back into its small, intense knot.

Without hesitation, Sasuke ripped the bathroom door open.

A shocking site met his crimson eyes.

Blood. Everywhere. The tiles and glass door of the small shower were painted in red so thickly that he could hardly see through it. He yanked that door open too, and his eyes fell on the collapsed, bruised, battered, almost _dead_ body of Haruno Sakura.

As he stared at her, ignoring that she was naked, he struggled with what to do. But the longer he allowed himself to look at her beaten frame and bleeding injuries, the faster a very familiar ache rose within his chest.

Protectiveness.

Finally, the scales tipped and the ache won out. Bending, he carefully picked her up, trying to ignore the sticky crimson fluid smearing on his hands, arms, and clothes. Her breathing was shallow and laboured, her eyes flickering wildly behind her closed lids.

Sasuke put her down on her bed as gently as possible, listening to her breathing hitch as he jolted her arm accidentally.

He frowned.

Shouldn't she be awake, though? Surely, his carrying her and jolting her should have roused her. His Sharingan spun into life again and he realized immediately that a genjutsu was surrounding her. Suspicion rose in him. Why had somebody gone through the trouble of making sure she would not regain consciousness?

His thoughts immediately turned towards Madara.

'_He's planning something,' _Sasuke growled in his mind.

He disliked the old man, but they had similar goals. And even though Sasuke knew that his own powers were formidable, he wasn't stupid enough to think that he could destroy Konoha and all the resulting attacking Hidden Villages by himself. Sasuke's plan was to manipulate the Akatsuki by himself in the end.

His eyes landed on Sakura again. Her nose was dripping blood, and there was so much crimson gore on her face that it looked like she was wearing a mask.

Sasuke had no idea what to do. He was definitely not a medical ninja. He'd sooner kill her than help her if he even tried one of those medic ninjutsu. All he could do was clean her up and try to keep infections away from her wounds.

Silently, he stood and transported himself via jutsu to his own room. He arrived just in time to see Juugo entering the bathroom and Suigetsu exiting. Both of them threw him curious glances, pausing in their actions as they watched the young Uchiha grab towels and rolls of bandages before disappearing again.

The two shinobi looked at each other, before Suigetsu shrugged and continued drying himself off.

Sasuke arrived in Sakura's room amidst a _poof_ of smoke, eyes quickly assessing her to make sure nothing had happened while he was gone. Then he strode into the shower and thoroughly washed off the blood before it could dry. Once the tiles and floor were white again, he returned to the main room to grab the towels and soak them in hot water in the sink.

As he performed this manual tasks, his mind returned to the matter of _why _he was doing this. He had asked himself this particular question so many times now. He remembered thinking the same when he took her with him after the battle with Deidara, and after he had learned the truth of his brother from Madara.

Sasuke knew by now that he would be… _displeased_ is Sakura would die. He would kill her without any hesitation (probably) if she seriously became a danger to his plans, but in the past incidents he just didn't see the point if she died.

Wringing out the towels so that they were only damp, he flashed back to Sakura's cot and leaned over her, trying to rub away the bloody mess without tearing her injured skin open. He managed to get most of the blood off of her face, arms, and neck, but then he faced a dilemma.

In other words—in very _clear_ words—let's just put it this way.

Sasuke was male. And Sakura was female.

He hadn't let the fact bother him before when he'd carried her out of the shower, but now he really could not just… well, _rub _those areas down. Even with a towel.

Sighing, making a mental note to give her a death glare when she woke for making him do this, he began to carefully wipe the blood off of her stomach. He continued higher, across her ribs, and paused for a second there before quickly cleaning her, ahem, _chest_.

A slow burning started in his gut and he knew that his ears and neck were red, no matter how much he tried to stop it.

He wasn't as thorough as with her face, and hurried to quickly clean her legs and back. Gritting his teeth, he turned towards the last part…

'_Screw this,' _he growled, _'I'm not going to finish this.'_

Rising to his feet, he gathered all the towels—now stained red—and covered the pinkette's naked form with the blanket, slowly easing her under the covers. With a last glance at her, he formed seals and used a transportation jutsu out of her room.

Suigetsu was busy sharpening his prized sword when Sasuke appeared again. The water nin looked up and spotted the bloody towels.

"Sasuke…? What the hell is with the towels?"

The Uchiha's blood red eyes snapped to Suigetsu, narrowing, and the ex-Mist nin got the message. Grumbling something about 'Sasuke and his goddamn secrets', he continued sharpening his sword.

Sasuke almost tossed the towels into the small hamper in the corner, before abruptly deciding against it. If Madara was the one who had knocked Sakura around, then he wouldn't be too happy that Sasuke had helped her.

But then again, did Sasuke give a shit about Madara being happy…?

He tossed them in the hamper.

XxXxX

Pain surveyed the bodies around him. He had made small work out of the boarder patrol Konoha had stationed outside the walls, and now the rest of the bodies and Konan emerged from the bushes.

They stood in a perfect formation for a couple of heartbeats, silently staring at the walls, before Tendou spoke.

"From here on, we'll splits up into two teams. Shuradou, Chikushoudou, and Gakidou will be on the diversion team."

He paused before going on:

"And the search team will be Tendou, Ningendou, and Jigokudou. Konan, you will join the search team."

The paper kunoichi nodded, her eyes fixed on Konoha.

Tendou's Rin'negan eyes narrowed as he observed the barrier around Konoha.

"Konoha has placed a spherical barrier in the air and land surrounding it. Anybody who enters without permission is detected immediately."

"But Itachi and Kisame got in without any trouble," Konan added.

"That's because Itachi was a former ANBU and knew the codes." Shuradou walked to the front, kneeling down as Chikushoudou climbed into his arms. Tendou's eyes flashed as he finished:

"But I have my own way of doing things."

And with that, Chikushoudou was launched into the air. The only female Path of Pain shot through the barrier, alerting the boarder guards, and immediately began to form seals to summon the rest.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" she said calmly as she landed on a roof, slamming her hand into the shingles.

With a burst of smoke the other Pains and Konan appeared.

"Scatter," Tendou ordered, and they all sped off in different directions.

Meanwhile, the captain of the boarder guard barked out:

"An intruder! Single target, West Gate, Sector 1-B! Go!"

The ninjas on duty chorused a loud 'Hai!' before dashing out in the direction Chikushoudou had broken through the barrier.

Before they could even reach their destination, however, multiple attacks shook Konoha. Shuradou, with his explosive metal missiles let a long chain reaction of detonations destroy countless buildings, sending civilians screaming into the streets.

Chikushoudou ran her hands through a series of seals before summoning three gigantic centipedes that hissed and blundered through buildings, destroying and killing people they saw.

Gakidou immediately encountered a group of Chuunin, catching them off-guard as he sucked up all their ninjutsu.

Ningendou caught a single shinobi and rifled through his head, eyes narrowing in disappointment.

"He didn't know anything about the Kyuubi," he muttered. His grip on the immobilized shinobi's head tightened before he ripped out the man's soul.

Jigokudou also found victims inside a building and held them several feet above the ground, choking them. His summoned Gedo-Statue glared sightlessly into space while snaking out a purple hand to grab the captured shinobi's tongue.

Konan had already strangled a few shinobi, wrapping them in an inescapable coffin of paper. She caught another man who had run into the alley without checking for enemies, and she narrowed her eyes angrily when, instead of answering her question, he merely spat:

"Fuck you!"

She killed him instantly before dissolving in a storm of paper.

And Tendou finished off a team of shinobi, glancing at the bloody metal bar he held in his hand.

"They also don't know anything about the Kyuubi," he said.

Pain was beginning to get irritated. He needed to find the Nine Tails, the sooner the better.

XxXxX

Tsunade was talking with a toad summon that had appeared in her office about Naruto when an explosion shook the Hokage tower.

"What was that?" she exclaimed, bolting upright. Four ANBU poured into her office, as the explosions continued. She shouted as she was nearly flung the length of her study before grabbing the toad and telling him:

"Go back to Myoboku Mountain and summon Naruto here, now!"

"All clear, Tsunade-sa—" the toad never finished his sentence as a sharp staff pierced his back and killed him instantly.

"_What?!_" The Hokage looked into the eyes of Danzo.

"What is the meaning of this?" she hissed.

"I am merely keeping the Kyuubi safe," the old man rasped.

"Teme…" Tsunade had to fight to keep her voice steady. "Why the hell would you do that?"

Danzo turned away from her with contempt.

"Do you not know?" he asked haughtily, making his way towards the door.

"We are under attack from the Akatsuki."

XxXxX

**A/N **Dun dun dun! Pain has made his move! Hope you liked it!

I'm actually surprised at myself that I finished another chapter. So I assume that the next chapter won't be coming so soon. Sorry if it takes a while!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Konbawa – Good evening

Shuradou – Giant Path – The Pain with all the metal explosives

Chikushoudou – Beast Path – The female Pain who summons all those weird animals

Gakidou – Hungry Ghost Path – The 'fat' Pain who sucks up ninjutsu

Tendou – Divinity Path – Yahiko's old body, the Pain who has push/pull powers

Ningendou – Human Path – The Pain who rips out people's souls and goes through their minds

Jigokudou – Purgatory Path – The Pain who summons the Gedo Statue and tests lies

XxXxX


	17. Chapter 17

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_Heaven won't wait forever._

XxXxX

**A/N**

Yoshi, Minna-san! It's been pretty long since the last chapter, but I did say it might take a while. So, no complaining, or else big, bad EbonyEye will… uh, yeah, _what_ will I do? Haha, okay, empty threat. It just sounded good up until that point. ^_^

ONWARDS!

XxXxX

**Chapter 17**

She was falling.

Falling falling falling. Through empty space. Through an endless black void.

All around her, voices babbled meaningless things.

"Sakura! Hey, Sakura! Sakura-chan! Forehead! Sakura!"

Who was this Sakura, anyways? Why was she so important to all these voices calling in the dark?

"Sakura-chan, want some ramen? Please? It's _ramen_. R-A-M-E-N. C'mon, Sakura-chan!"

That voice. That bubbly, sunny, still somewhat child-like voice. She seemed to remember that this voice was important…

"Ah, you see, Sakura, I got lost on the road of life…"

She felt a prickle of irritation, and she didn't even know why. But the tone of that voice was light and teasing, and she just _knew _she'd heard that voice—and possibly that excuse as well—somewhere before.

"Forehead! Hurry up!" a female voice said. That voice was also familiar… but where had she heard it before? If only she could escape this darkness…! Maybe then she'd have a chance to remember who she was…

Abruptly, the voices were torn away from her. Panic enveloped her in its cold grasp and she struggled to hear the voices that promised to free her from this black prison.

'_Help', _she thought faintly. _'Help me…'_

XxXxX

She hadn't stirred for three days.

Sasuke stared at Sakura's still form from his seat at the edge of her cot. Her face was completely blank, any fearful of pain filled expressions wiped clean off. Sometimes, her mouth or eyelid would twitch, or her eyebrows would furrow in exasperation, but the movements always went as quickly as they came.

The Uchiha was beginning to doubt if she would wake up in time to heal herself. Some of her deeper wounds simply refused to close, no matter what he did. He had tried several things: salves, easy medical ninjutsu, and even a healing scroll that he'd scavenged from some corner of the base. But nothing helped.

It infuriated him that he couldn't do anything. Not the fact that Sakura's wounds were slowly starting to get inflamed, but the fact that he was losing to a force that he could not counter.

Sasuke _hated_ losing.

Silently he rose and headed towards the door, casting one more glance at the slumbering rosette. The sight of her lying there so helpless strengthened the thought that Madara had dealt her serious damage.

As the young Uchiha reached out to grasp the doorknob, he felt a faint pulse of chakra in the hallway outside. His eye twitched in irritation; it was Karin. And he could sense from her chakra that she was far less than happy.

Nevertheless, he calmly opened the door and strode out, securing the heavy chains behind him. He planned to simply stride past the redhead, but she planted herself firmly in his path.

_That _was unexpected. Sasuke glared at her.

"Sasuke-kun, where have you been going these past few days?" Karin demanded. She was putting on the tough act, but the slight quaver of fear resulting from confronting him gave her away.

"Have you been visiting the little Konoha bitch?"

Sasuke scanned her expression in a split second, seeing the muted distaste and jealousy partially hidden beneath a mask of confidence. The jealousy wasn't surprising—he knew that she still held an infatuation for him. He tightened his hand around the doorknob that he hadn't released yet.

"You are to leave her alone."

The redhead blinked in blatant shock before disdain and anger clouded her features. She composed herself a second later, trying to pout girlishly at the object of her obsession.

"Hai, Sasuke-kun," she purred, lowering her gaze and eyelashes, "anything for you! But I don't understand why you thought I'd go visit her… Has something happened to her?"

Silence.

Karin looked up and realized that she'd been talking to empty space. Sasuke had gone.

She scowled and reached out to yank the doorknob open that secured the pinkette's room. As soon as her fingertips grazed the cold metal, a sharp _zap_ of chakra raced through her nerves, causing her to shriek and leap back, clutching her burnt fingers.

She recognized the chakra instantly, and that infuriated her.

'_He channelled chakra into the doorknob', _she realized, _'that must have been while I was looking away. But why would Sasuke-kun do this to me? Is he protecting that whore?'_

Whatever the answers to her questions were, she was _angry! _Furious, she sent tendrils of questing chakra into the room, trying to sense what the Konoha medic's chakra signature looked like. But Sasuke's chakra—even though the amount was tiny—was so strong, so dense, that Karin couldn't sense anything beyond the black barrier he had placed.

She was now speechless. She couldn't even scream. Her anger had melted into utter disbelief as to why he'd go such lengths—leaving some precious _chakra_ behind!—just to protect a kunoichi from a village he happened to hate.

What was going on?

XxXxX

A day.

Naruto blinked up at the ceiling of the tent blearily.

A day since he had defeated Pain. A day since Konoha had been blasted apart by the Rin'negan user's power. A day since Naruto had nudged the Akatsuki leader back onto the path of truth from where he'd strayed into lies and darkness.

The blonde was being forced to stay in the makeshift hospital station. Normally, he would have kicked up a huge fuss, but under the current situation he was just too weary for that.

'_Why did this have to happen?' _he thought, turning his head to gaze out the tent flap.

He stared out the triangular entrance of the tent, looking at the horrifying sight beyond.

Piles of splintered and demolished wood were being slowly moved away or burned under careful supervision. All over, shreds and remains of colourful banners were being collected and also disposed of. Occasionally, a person would hurry by, carrying an armload of what could have once been parts of a living room… or a baby's crib… or the Hokage Tower…

Naruto swallowed.

'_This could have been a lot worse', _he tried to cheer himself up. _'If Nagato hadn't decided to resurrect everybody…' _He didn't finish the thought. He didn't want to replace the images of burning wood piles with mountains of corpses.

He tried to sit up and his body protested by sending searing, burning pain through his limbs. There were no more physical wounds—Shizune saw to that—but he had used up so much chakra that he could hardly move. He had burned up all his own chakra, and then used to Kyuubi's power instead. In fact, if he hadn't had the Nine Tail's chakra, he would have died.

Naruto didn't want to think of it that way. He shouldn't be thankful to the demon fox. When it had taken over, he'd gone on rampage again. He'd nearly killed Hinata! And if he'd been any closer to the village…!

A shudder ran down his spine.

Unbidden, memories flooded before his vision. Pain's unfeeling, never changing face, challenging him to answer his impossible question. The love and determination that nearabout blazed over Hinata's face when she'd confessed to him. The way her usually luminescent silver-white eyes had dimmed and glazed. His dad's strengthening presence, the way he'd calmed Naruto's agitated soul within a minute, pointing him in the right way once more.

And lastly… Nagato's peaceful face when he finally understood what true peace would take. Not a dictatorship. Not an overlord. And not a world that continually ripped itself apart only to heal under sorrow and despair.

Hot tears spilled down Naruto's cheeks and smarted over the fragile, new skin on his face. The droplets of liquid surprised him; it had been a long time since he'd outright cried. Slightly ashamed, he swiped a hand across his face to dry it.

Sighing, the boy rolled over and wondered why Tsunade wouldn't wake up. He'd heard from Shizune that the Godaime had fallen into coma and had remained so, even now.

'_Baa-chan is amazing, after all', _he thought, _'even though she's always sleeping and getting drunk during her work hours… she really is worthy of the title Hokage…'_

Thinking of Tsunade's predicament made him even more depressed.

'_If Sakura-chan had been here, she might've been able to heal Tsunade-baa-chan… Where is she? What happened to her? Why hasn't she come home…?'_

Naruto's world had been tangled into knots. There were so many new worries weighing on his heart. He now had _two _missing teammates, and he had no clue where they were. Of course, it would be easier to get Sakura to come back—she was a Leaf shinobi! She wouldn't run from the rescue teams sent out from her home.

He sighed yet again.

But what could have happened to her? Was she okay? He didn't know.

One thing he did know was that she had finally found her real family. And that family would be searching for her as well, and—

—Naruto's thoughts slid to a halt.

Wait.

When Tsunade had sent a letter the Rokukan, she had not mentioned that Sakura was travelling with Sasuke. Of course, Naruto didn't know if she still was with Sasuke's team, but it was a good guess that she was. And Sakura's family didn't know about the encounter with the unknown Uchiha.

'_Chikushou! Baa-chan must have been so rattled that she forgot to add that!'_

His thoughts spun off into a round of questions.

'_Maybe this other Uchiha has something to do with it! He stalled us so we couldn't reach Sasuke and Sakura in time. What if Sakura's family knew something about! Dammit, maybe they even know who he is!'_

Whatever the case was, Naruto made up his mind to go visit the Rokukan as soon as he was allowed out of Konoha. Now that Tsunade was in coma, there was no one to punch him hard enough to keep him here.

XxXxX

"Sasuke-kun…"

The young Uchiha turned his head slightly, acknowledging Madara's presence which had appeared suddenly in his room.

"It's time for you to go and retrieve the Hachibi. Or have you forgotten…?"

"No, I haven't forgotten," Sasuke turned away from the elder Uchiha and made his way towards where Suigetsu and Juugo slept. Excitement of the hunt filled his mind—it had been far too long since he'd faced a real challenge. Fighting his brother didn't count—he refused to remember the battle with Itachi, for fear of the pain it would wake.

Madara watched the flash of eagerness that had appeared on Sasuke's face and chuckled inwardly.

'_He's just too amusing', _he thought, _'he really is looking forward to the fighting. Indeed, he is truly a copy of how I was.'_

Unbeknownst to Sasuke, the elder Uchiha scanned the room swiftly, looking for any indicators of what his descendent had been up to. His gaze landed on the hamper in the corner.

'_What…?'_

Immediately, his lone eye was drawn to the bloodstained, formerly white towels lying at the bottom of the pile. Had one of Sasuke's teammates used it after getting hurt in training…?

No, there was too much blood for just getting nicked during a spar. That could only mean…

Anger lashed through him.

That _foolish _boy! Did he still harbour feelings for the little pinkette? How could he? In Sasuke's mind she _should _be a traitor. And he had _helped _her! Had Madara failed at planting the dark seeds of hatred for Konoha?

'_I'll deal with him—and her—later…' _he growled.

This created unforeseen complications. Yet again, Madara was thrown—like the other two times before. Once when Sasuke had taken her along after the battle with Deidara, and then again when he'd saved her after learning the truth behind the massacre.

This invisible force that drew Sasuke to her… what made Sakura so irresistible to him? Why did the bloodthirsty, hate-filled Uchiha prodigy keep returning to her time and time again?

Too many questions. Madara did not like the way things were going. His two plans that were running side by side at the moment were starting to get caught up in one another. If Sasuke continued to slowly stray from the path Madara had laid down for him, then there was the possibility that the elder Uchiha would have to abandon his other plan that involved Sakura.

He did not like this. He did not like this at all.

XxXxX

Sasuke made one last visit to Sakura's room before he left. He knew had to be quick about it, or his team would wonder where he was.

She was lying exactly where he'd left her. Despite his plan to briefly check up on her and then go, he lingered and wondered why she hadn't woken up. Why would Madara lay such a potent genjutsu on her? Did he mean to use her at some later time?

Sasuke studied her face and noticed how pale she had become in the last couple of days. She needed to eat and drink something, or she'd probably die in half a week or so without her chakra.

Chakra… the young Uchiha moved his gaze to the small black square on her throat. He remembered that it was the chakra-seal he himself had placed on her. Its purpose was to keep Sakura under control so that she could neither run away nor fight him. But not the situation was different… she'd be all alone…

Reluctantly, he raised a hand to form a handsign, quietly muttering 'Kai' under his breath. The seal flared brightly, the chain pattern of black squares reappearing over the pinkette's skin before fading away completely.

There. He had returned her chakra to her. Sparks and flashes of green chakra started to crackle over her skin, mending some of her wounds. He watched, fascinated, as more and more of her chakra leaked out of her, heading towards her worst injuries.

She could heal herself in her sleep. That required quite a bit of skill. He had difficulty accepting the fact, but she really had trained hard to become the elite medic nin she now was.

She had worked so hard to catch up with him and Naruto.

A knot formed in the pit of his stomach. Hurriedly, Sasuke rose, turning his face away so that he would not look at her anymore. He instinctively knew that if he stayed any longer, then he wouldn't be able to leave.

As he opened the door and started to exit the room, something in him tugged in the opposite direction. Gritting his teeth, he swore when he realized that he did not _want_ to go. Something was holding him here in this room. No, _she _was holding him here, keeping him from leaving without a backward glance.

With a sigh of annoyance, he slowly let his gaze drift back to her still form, where it stayed as if glued to her.

He didn't want to leave her; something told him this was the last time he'd see her.

But of course that was ridiculous, he told himself. Why wouldn't he see her again? There was no reason not to see her after he left. Right?

Nevertheless, he burned the image of her sleeping peacefully in a halo of soothing green chakra into his mind and stored it away in some corner of his mind.

He wanted to remember her like this.

XxXxX

"Azami-onee-chan! Onee-chan! _AZAMI-I-I-I!_"

"What!" Azami shouted back, exasperate. She had been in the middle of meditating and Ran had just effectively nullified her attempts at getting some peace and quiet.

"Chichue got a letter!"

"Nani?"

The redhead stood and followed her little half brother out of the room. Shortly after that, they met Ken, and the twins babbled without a pause the entire way.

"It was a _big_ hawk, onee-chan! Bigger than the ones we have!"

"I've never seen this hawk before! Where did it come from?"

"Why did it come here?"

"What does the letter say?"

"Can we see?"

"_SHUT UP!"_ Azami finally roared. She couldn't take their endless chatter, not when she'd been disturbed during practice.

She all but ripped the door open to Takeshi's study and was about to beg him to relieve her of these twin terrors, but her words died on her lips.

"Otou-san…?"

Takeshi's face was white and he continued to read the scroll in his hand over and over again. There was a minute of dead silence where even the twins held their tongues. Finally, the Rokukan Priest closed his eyes and muttered:

"This is not good."

"What? What's not good?"

When he still didn't respond, she whined:

"Tou-san…!" Azami could feel her patience dwindling.

Takeshi took a deep breath and said in one breath:

"Sakura's gone missing."

…

Silence.

Azami gaped, her eyes going wide, and spluttered:

"M… _Missing?!_"

"Hai, I'm afraid so," his voice was low and anger started to form on his words. "The Hokage does not know her whereabouts—she didn't join up with her team as planned. Somewhere between this temple and her team's meeting point she disappeared."

"Is Sakura-chan gonna be okay?" came Ken's small voice.

"I don't know," Takeshi stood, his face grim. "But we have to take action at once. Azami," he directed his words at his daughter, "summon Eiri immediately. Tell him it's urgent and send him to me. I'll write to the Hokage that we will send out our own rescue forces as soon as possible. Finding Sakura will prove very difficult even with our kekkai genkai. I fear that she has been specifically targeted for her bloodline, and that complicates matters quite a bit."

XxXxX

She curled in the empty blackness.

Alone.

All alone.

'_I want out', _she thought feebly, _'Anywhere but here…'_

How long had she been in this darkness? A day? A year? A century? It was impossible to tell. Ever since she'd lost track of those voices that maybe could have saved her, she had been utterly and completely alone.

'_Perhaps if I try to remember any connections in my memories, I'll be saved.'_

With great difficulty, she emptied her mind of fear and loneliness, searching only for any hints or clues on her origin. Flashes of colours spun before her inner eye, but she couldn't make out any distinctive images. She was a prisoner in her own mind.

A horrifying thought popped up.

'_What if I'm here—alone—forever?'_

Blind panic overwhelmed her and she screamed in her mind.

'_NO! No! I don't want to stay here! I don't want to be alone! Somebody help me! I want out! Somebody, please…! Anybody… anybody…__** SAAAAAASUUUUUUKE-KUUUUN!**__'_

The mental cry shattered the darkness in an instant, fragments of lingering shadows melting away into a storm of memories and facts.

And in that moment, she knew.

She knew!

She was Rokukan Sakura, formerly Haruno Sakura. She was a Leaf ninja and medic. She had friends, people who cared for her just as she cared for them, and she had a home where she belonged. She was not alone.

'_How could I forget them?'_

And she had love. Even if that person for whom she held so much love did not reciprocate it, she stilled loved him.

That fact caused her thoughts to come to a full stop before rushing back into place.

She loved Sasuke.

Still.

The last traces of darkness vanished completely and she found that she could feel her body. Summoning her strength, she opened her eyes for the first time in three days.

It took a moment for her to orient herself and adjust to using her body once more. She felt battered, bruised and ravenously hungry and thirsty. But she was alive, and that was a miracle in itself.

She managed to pull herself into an upright sitting position and took in the sight of her tiny room around her. What had happened? Memories of Madara beating her to a pulp rose to the surface and she had to actively stop herself from puking.

But if that had happened, why was she in her bed then? She highly doubted that Madara had tucked her in after punching the lights out of her. So who had taken care of her…?

A flash of green answered the question. Looking down, she watched just as a spark of her chakra fizzed into a small wound on her hand, healing it.

'_The chakra block', _she realized, _'is gone. Sasuke removed it…?'_

That puzzled her further. She was not on friendly terms with either of the Uchihas, young or old. Why had Sasuke released her chakra, then?

She shook herself. She would have enough time sometime later to ponder questions. Right now, she had to reach her shishou!

Her body surged with renewed energy—she _had _been sleeping for three days, after all. As easy as taking a breath, Sakura split her consciousness and sent her second mind rocketing out of the constrictions of space and time. This time, Madara was not here to stop her!

Her mind sped towards Konoha. But something seemed off, even from afar… she did see the houses and buildings over the walls of the Hidden Leaf. And where were the cheerful voices that filled the village?

As she entered her home, the impact of what she saw nearly sent her reeling back into her body.

Konoha was destroyed.

'_W-What…?'_

Ruins lay everywhere. Buildings had been reduced to nothing more than matchwood. Belongings and furniture were scattered all over the place, looking more like scraps of material than actual structures. There was not a single house intact. Most of them were being burned—well, the remains anyhow.

'_How much happened while I was unconscious? No, __**what**__ happened?'_

She did her best to ignore the devastating sight and sped onwards, looking for her mentor and leader. But she could not detect Tsunade's chakra signature anywhere. Concentrating fiercely, she just barely managed to discern a weak pulse of the Godaime's energy.

'_Shishou!'_

Another nasty surprise shook her mind. Tsunade's mind was not coherent. Swirls of general emotions made their way through herthoughts, and here and there a small formulated sentence would pop up only to be dragged into the maelstrom of feelings.

"_Shishou!" _Sakura called. When there was no reply, she dived into the river of emotions and tried to get them to form thoughts.

"_Tsunade-sama, snap out of it! It's me—Sakura! Your apprentice… Shishou!'_

She was unconscious. No… Sakura took another look at Tsunade's overall health and shuddered. Her mentor was in coma.

'_Why…?'_

XxXxX

"Tell us where the Hachibi is."

The ninja stared in fear at the water nin, but defiantly spat:

"I'd never tell the likes of you!"

Suigetsu grinned sourly. These Cloud shinobi were tougher than he'd originally thought. They weren't giving up the location of the Eight Tails even under torture.

"I'll ask you again; where—"

"Stand aside, Suigetsu."

The ex-Mist nin turned to see his leader walking towards him. Hastily, he removed his blade from where it was wedged around the man's throat and backed away.

"Where is the Hachibi?" Sasuke's voice was threateningly monotone.

"I won't tell you!" the man screamed.

"We'll see about that…"

Tomoes spun as the Uchiha's eyes turned blood red, immediately transforming into the Mangekyou Sharingan.

The ninja's body went limp as Sasuke tortured the information out of him with ease.

"Again: where is the Hachibi? And what does he look like?"

"H… He's down in the valley… training… sunglasses… a tattoo of ox horns on his face and a tattoo of the kanji 'iron' on his right shoulder…"

"Hn."

Sasuke turned away, and the man slumped to the ground, dead.

"Let's go."

XxXxX

"Are you the Hachibi Jinchuriki?"

Sasuke's voice was even and controlled, floating across the distance between the large, dark-skinned man with sunglasses and himself.

The man gave him a thorough looking over, then gazed at his teammates, examining them from top to bottom.

"No, it's 'Hachibi-_sama_', _got it_? Only address me as 'Jinchuriki-_sama', got it_?"

"Then we will capture you." Sasuke's sentence was not a question, it was a flat statement.

"Ba-kaaaa! You have t'say: 'Please allow me to capture you, Hachibi-sama.' _Got it_?"

"Suigetsu, you take the right. Juugo, take left."

The two shinobi slid into position just as Sasuke added:

"Karin, you stay behind me." She complied eagerly, squealing inside at the thought of him protecting her.

As soon as the formation was complete, the Jinchuriki drawled:

"Hm… let's see what you've got…"

At that, Suigetsu lunged forward, racing across the stone plateau with his sword raised. He brought it down with an echoing crash, breaking the ground as he did so. Dust exploded through the air, covering them from sight.

"We can't kill the host of a tailed beast," Juugo called warningly, "Isn't that what the Akatsuki have told us, Suigetsu?"

"He's not dead," Karin interrupted. "I can feel his chakra."

As the dust cloud cleared, everybody gaped as the Hachibi happily rapped:

"In the in middle of our conversation, here's some serious advice, ya fool!"

He was holding Suigetsu's sword in both hands, even managing to push the ex-Mist nin back.

"The only one who gets to dig me is me! So scram, ya fools, before I blast ya'll away!" At the last word, he surged upwards and tossed Suigetsu's sword high into the air where it spun around its axis before landing with a metallic _clunk _in the ground right next to him.

"Suigetsu, get back." The water nin leapt back.

The Hachibi yanked the Executioner's Sword out of the ground and stared at Team Taka through the round hole at the tip of the blade, rapping:

"I'm peering through, and see you alive! And ya'll are so brainless!"

"Stop joking around!" Juugo bellowed, rushing forwards. His skin flooded to gray and he raised a hideously transformed arm.

The Hachibi stuck his head through the hole and spinning so that the handle whirled around him at neck height.

"My thirst for blood is my courage, making me optimistic! My blade's a-whirlin', but my patience is a-closin'!"

As the Jinchuriki rapped, Juugo attempted to punch him. The handle of the blade came around just that moment and slammed into the side of his face, knocking him aside. With a roar of pain, the berserker exploded and rushed the Hachibi head on.

There was a painful _crunch _and Suigetsu winced. _'Damn, that sounded like it hurt…'_

The Hachibi stared at the unconscious, gray-skinned man at his feet, leaning casually on the hilt of the Executioner's Blade. He seemed to almost be smiling as he rapped:

"I've got spare power, and my appeal is a-glowin'! Hachibi the bridge, that's me! Killerbee! Aww, yeah!"

He turned to look at Team Taka and continued:

"Start fightin' and you'll just be embarrassed, cuz you'll be torn apart and—"

He stopped abruptly.

Sasuke tensed, wondering if the Jinchuriki would make a move now that he'd stopped his ridiculous rapping.

But—

"My tongue. You bastards made me bite my tongue." He pouted childishly.

Juugo stirred, his curse mark receding, and the Hachibi leaned down to pick up the large man without breaking a sweat, tossing him hard and far so that he landed in directly in front of Sasuke's feet.

The mood changed. Team Taka regarded the Jinchuriki with new wariness, wondering what to do next. Killerbee—as he called himself—seemed to be a tougher opponent than one would think, since he rapped all the time. He was to be taken seriously.

"I'll go." Sasuke's voice broke the tense silence. As he stepped forwards in a deliberately slow pace, the Hachibi rapped:

"Who the heck are you? Fools—all fools! Who would capture me, and why would you capture me, yeah!"

"We don't owe you an explanation."

Suigetsu bared his teeth at the Jinchuriki and complained:

"Why do we have to deal with such a pain in the ass, Sasuke? He's downright weird with his stupid rapping and rhymes!"

"It's to obtain power as quickly as possible," Sasuke responded without looking back at the water nin. "I also want to confirm whether the Akatsuki will keep their promise."

He pulled his sleeve towards his elbow and caught Kusanagi which slid out into his waiting hand.

"Either way, we will be the ones to use the Akatsuki, not the other way around. You would do well to remember that."

While Suigetsu grinned, Juugo nodded, and Karin swooned, the Hachibi narrowed his gaze behind his sunglasses, thinking:

'_These guys… are from Akatsuki?'_

That changed matters considerably. And as Sasuke prepared himself to clash with Killerbee, the Jinchuriki made up his mind to defeat this group as quickly as possible and then send news to his brother. The Raikage needed to know about this.

XxXxX

**A/N**

And that was Chapter 17! Hope you guys liked it!

I really am sorry for the long wait. I felt so guilty, watching all the New Chapter Alerts from other stories I'd subscribed to flood into my inbox, but I couldn't find enough motivation to write another chapter. But I pulled it together, and that resulted in this. ^_^

Hahaha, to all of you who are indignant that I skipped a more detailed version of Pain's invasion: Sumimasen! But I'll write out Team Taka vs. Killerbee instead. (I looooove Killerbee!) I can't wait to get to the battle, where my own story finally starts to branch off more or less.

So, that's it! Ja ne!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Chikushou! – 1) beast, wild animal – 2) son of a bitch, dammit!

Chichue – father (polite)

Hachibi – Eight Tails

XxXxX


	18. Chapter 18

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_Forgive crimes, but do not forget them._

XxXxX

**A/N**

My sister's birthday is coming up, and I have _**no clue **_what to give her! KYAAA! What do I do?! Freaking out here!

XxXxX

**Chapter 18**

Sakura quickly pulled on the black shirt that Eiri had given her. Thankfully, no blood from her beating had gotten on it, so the fabric was reasonably clean. The black shorts and cloak were also intact—except for the chunk of hood that Karin had cut off. Ever nerve ending in her body crackled with suppressed tension.

Her decision was final.

Green eyes, fully alert and rested, scanned her bare cell for absolutely _anything _that could be of use. She would need all the help she could get to escape.

Her room was underground, but thankfully most of the base wasn't. From what she'd seen when she'd come to this place, most of the living space was at surface level. That would make a big difference.

Her gaze came to rest on her cot. Easily flipping the mattress over with one hand—relishing the feel of chakra running through her body again—she found what she was looking for: the steel bed coils. She pulled them all out and straightened them while silently thanking the fact that Madara was so arrogant to believe that she wouldn't recover from the beating. He might have removed any and all metal or potential tools in her room otherwise.

She had created a reasonable lock pick and stuffed the rest of the coils into a pocket on the inside of her cloak. Wandering into the bathroom, she studied the walls.

Maybe if she could get some of that rubber sealing from around the individual tiles… no, there wasn't enough. Her gaze landed on the corner of the shower.

To her surprise it was clean. If she remembered correctly, it had been painted with blood. Madara certainly wouldn't have cleaned it up—he didn't care if her wounds had gotten infected. She still didn't know what part she played in his plan, but it sure as hell didn't involve her physical health.

Letting her eyes travel upwards, her breath caught in excitement.

There! In the upper corner of the shower, there was a patch of dark fuzzy stuff. Quick as a flash, she walked partway up the wall and examined the patch.

It was some kind of mold. Gloving her hand in chakra, she assessed the fungus and felt her excitement grow when she felt the potential lethality leaking out of the mold.

Luck was really on her side, she thought. As carefully as she could, she scraped the stuff off and leaped back down, heading towards the sink.

Going through the enormous storehouse on fungus in her head, Sakura decided that it could either be Spider Moss or frosted Ashton Fever. Both kinds of mold were known to frequently be found growing in damp places, and they also held the unique characteristic of being highly poisonous, but only after getting specially altered by chakra.

Well, no matter which kind of mold this was, Sakura would use it. But she would need some kind of smoke bomb to set it off with, and then there was the question of carrying it around safely…

She caught sight of the small drinking glass standing on the sink. Transferring the mold from her hand into the glass, she hurried back into the bedroom and ripped a small piece of cloth off from the sheet. She tied down the makeshift cloth top with another long strip of bed sheet.

Next, she disassembled the bed frame, hefting the long beams of wood. She tore long strips of the blanket off and wound them around her left arm so that she could unwrap them if she needed them.

And finally, she needed some kind of ink to paint symbols. Looking around, she spotted black, greasy oil collecting in the door hinges and handle. Cringing, she managed to dig the grime out and used her finger to paint a seal on the back of her left hand.

'_I'm so glad that I memorized the seal to Konoha's weapon storehouse.'_

She had seen that Konoha had been destroyed, but surely they had restocked weapons somewhere with the same seal leading to it. Experimentally, she bit her thumb and smeared a drop carefully over the temporary seal, ruining it just as a windmill shurikan appeared in a _poof_ of smoke.

'_Okay, so it works… but I can only use these oil-made seals once.'_

So she painted as many seals as she could all over the place, coming up in the end with a total of thirty-three. Hopefully that would be enough.

She was ready.

Heart pounding, she connected both of her minds and flicked on the switch that allowed her hear minds. Immediately, a wave of thoughts crashed into her senses.

"… _should adjust the bindings near the hilt a bit…" _That was Hoshigaki Kisame, on the floor above her and to her right.

"… _**only watch, without interfering! Baka!**__" _That was Black Zetsu…

"… _and maybe I should check up on Konoha's progress…" _Sakura shuddered mentally; it was Madara. But his thoughts indicated that he would be leaving sometime soon—that would be the best thing ever! She was sure that she could slip past Kisame and Zetsu, seeing as there was nobody else in the base.

But Madara's next thoughts made her heart jump into her throat.

"_I should check on the kunoichi before I leave."_

'_SHIMATTA!'_

Sakura snapped open her eyes. Madara was going to warp into her room!

'_Shit! I gotta either pretend everything's normal or get out of here!'_

But as her eyes swept the room, she knew it would be impossible to put up the innocent act. Her bed was destroyed, and her clothes and the drinking glass would be missing. Cursing, she lunged forward, lock pick in hand.

As her hand touched the doorknob, she received a pleasant surprise.

Chakra—undoubtedly Sasuke's—raced up her arm into her body. It stung like crazy, but she tamped it down with iron control. Delighted, she felt her own system assimilating Sasuke's chakra, boosting her levels even higher.

'_I can totally use this', _she thought as she jammed the makeshift lock pick into the door before a thought occurred to her.

'_Why the hell am I going about this delicately? I have enough chakra now.'_

Not even bothering to retrieve the lock pick, she cast a quick genjutsu around the door, her room, and the hallway to muffle the sound before snapping a glowing fist forward with full power.

The solid metal door crumpled as if it were made of tinfoil and the chains outside snapped like strings. Sakura leapt over the ruined door and made a beeline down the hallway, releasing the genjutsu and retrieving her chakra. She only had a few minutes now before she was noticed.

Just as she rounded the corner, she felt an ominous prickling coming as a warning from her chakra sensing ability. Skidding to a full stop, she listened intently to hear what was coming.

It was Madara.

Her heart upped its tempo as she heard him warp into her room. Alarm raced through her; she had to go _now_ before—

"WHY THAT—!"

The Uchiha's enraged roar struck fear into her heart and she dashed off as Madara bellowed:

"ZETSU! GET IN HERE!"

Sakura sprinted down the next corridor, feeling as if she were flying. She had hidden her chakra as soon as she'd felt Madara arriving, and now, as she ran, she split her consciousness into two and used her second mind to map the base.

According to her second mind, she was pretty close to a spiral staircase, directly ahead of her. She wrestled a door open and sure enough, stairs led upward towards another door. She didn't even climb the steps, bounding in a single chakra powered jump to the top and wrenching the door open. She burst into a sprint before the door had even swung shut.

Left, right, right, left, right—she followed her second mind through a maze of hallways, each one looking like the next. As she rounded a corner, a wall of life forces popped into her internal radar.

"Crap," she hissed under hear breath.

A large number of people were moving towards her at a rapid speed from… underground?!

Startled she leapt straight up, spinning halfway so the she was hanging from the ceiling. The life forces that her second mind registered were gaining on her even though she ran as fast as she could on the ceiling. It didn't help—whatever was coming began to circle the entire hallway from inside the walls.

A confrontation was inevitable.

She jumped off of the ceiling and slid to a stop, turning so that she would face her opponents. Just in time—the walls, ceiling and floor rumbled threateningly before crashing down with the sound of an avalanche.

Horror welled inside of the pinkette.

Zetsu. No, _a hundred _clones of Zetsu. They poured out of the ruined walls, all of them focused solely on her. Her grip tightened on the beams of wood she carried with her. Shielding her hand behind one of the beams, she dipped her hand into her cloak pocket and retrieved the mold. Time to use this…

Holding the mold with two fingers, she cut her palm on the rough wood and smeared it over three seals. A flash bomb, smoke bomb, and an explosive tag appeared, all of them attached to a separate kunai. She smeared the mold onto the explosive tag and smoke bomb.

All this happened in a matter of seconds, in which the Zetsus lunged at her with blood-curdling roars. Sakura raised the smoke bomb kunai, aimed, and hurled it into the middle of the mass of white bodies.

The kunai itself struck one of the Zetsus square in the throat, which fell headlong with a shriek. The others watched with interest before turning back to the pinkette.

"One kunai isn't going to save you, Sakura-san," one of the sneered.

"Oh yeah?" Sakura couldn't help but return the jibe. "Just wait and watch."

"What the—!"

Yells erupted from the white clones as the smoke bomb exploded, sending a huge cloud of black mist outwards, mercilessly killing anybody stupid enough to inhale it.

The majority of the white Zetsus fell, withering away on the floor, but about a quarter of them were smart enough to hold their breaths and head towards Sakura.

As they, and the black mist behind them, neared her, she slammed the explosive kunai into the ground before her feet and sprinted in the opposite direction. The tag blew up, the force of the explosion driving the white clones back into the black mist and away from Sakura.

'_Ha! Score!' _She thought as she continued to race towards the exit.

Her triumph was short lived, however, as she skidded around a corner and came face to face with a sea of white Zetsus in a gigantic, dark hall. She'd forgotten to pay attention to her second mind.

'_Uh oh…'_

What's more, she felt a certain Hoshigaki Kisame approaching her with alarming speed. She could only pray that Madara wasn't going to appear any time soon.

Her brilliant mind zipped through her options, and a plan began to form. It was crazy, but it just might work since she was only one floor under the surface.

All she needed was that axe Azami and the twins had given her.

'_Focus, Sakura!'_

She had to stall the Zetsus somehow. Her fingers tightened around the kunai with the flash bomb. Quick as lightning, she hurled it at the foremost Zetsu and shut her eyes. With a small _bang_, blinding rays of pure white light blasted outwards and the clones screamed in pain. Her eyes snapped open precisely then and she hurriedly wrecked one of the oil seals on her arm to reform it into a different one.

'_I hope this is the right one!'_

With her still sluggishly bleeding palm, she summoned something in a cloud of smoke.

'_Shit, wrong thing!'_

She had wasted a precious oil seal to summon… a skateboard. Who the hell thought of connecting a damn _skateboard _to a seal?

XxXxX

Somewhere, far away, Konohamaru wondered if his experiment had worked. Naruto-onii-chan had shown him how to connect specific rooms to seals so that one could summon anything in that room from anywhere.

Did it work?

Turning around, he felt his eyes bug out of his head.

Where was his skateboard?!

XxXxX

'_Second try!' _The flash bang hadn't worn off quite yet. Sakura redrew another oil seal, altering it slightly this time, and this time, it worked.

The enormous scroll that Azami had given to her appeared in her hands and she flung it open, slamming her palm on the seal which held the gigantic axe. Its heavy weight was comforting to her and she spun it around her hand once with freakish ease.

The flash bomb had finished its explosion by then, and the Zetsus rubbed their eyes, blinking rapidly as they adjusted to the darkness again. A few of them caught sight of Sakura and snarled, leaping towards her. Soon, the rest followed and the whole room of clones rushed at her. The sound of their attacking yells was deafening.

Sakura suppressed the urge to act as they came closer…

…and closer…

And then—

'_Now!'_

—she flung the axe with all her might at the ceiling.

The room went dead silent as the Zetsus halted their movement to watch the axe spin through the air. Gracefully, deadly, it whirled hilt over blade three times before crashing into the middle of the ceiling with a shattering _boom_.

For a second, everybody held their breath as cracks spider-webbed across the ceiling, slivers of light falling into the dark room. But other than that, nothing happened.

"_Shit', _Sakura thought, desperately racking her brains for any more ideas, _'I hoped that the ceiling was thin enough.'_

So, there would be no cave in. Even the Zetsus realized that and turned back to her. Seeing their attention settle onto her again, she quickly dismissed the monstrous scroll and picked up one of the longest wood beams she had been dragging around with her.

There was only enough time to take a deep breath and yell:

"SHANNARO!"

—before she plunged into the crowd of enemies.

She swept the wood beam in a wide arc, sending three flying through the air, and dodged a punch at the same time, weaving to avoid a kick to her midriff. She performed a handstand, kicking away two Zetsus, and filled her feet with chakra so that when she flipped upright, she caused a miniature earthquake in the room that rattled the walls and split the floor. Under her feet, the ground began to crumble and she leapt clear just in time to see several Zetsus fall through the hole into a room one floor below.

Sakura landed gracefully on the shoulders of a clone and in that time, sliced her hand open by scraping her palm across the wood beam she had carried all this time. Using the stream of blood, she used almost all of her oil seals to summon countless fuuma shurikan.

The windmill shurikan sliced through the ranks of white clones, mercilessly cutting them down. They howled in anger and pain, and the ones still standing searched for Sakura.

Where had she gone?

Just then, Kisame arrived in the scene, blowing to a full stop as he took in the collapsed floor, all the windmill shurikan buried in the walls, and…

"Watch the axe, you idiots!" he roared as he caught sight of the gigantic thing stuck in the ceiling. But he was a second too late; Sakura exploded out of her hiding place—she had transported herself to inside a wall while the clones had been distracted by the fuuma shurikan.

As Kisame's warning yell echoed through the air, she soared straight towards the cracks her axe had created. Her fist filled with glowing chakra and she dealt the ceiling an earth-shattering punch.

The stone groaned and sharp cracks and snaps filled the air as the ceiling began to cave in. Pieces of it—the sizes of houses—freed themselves from the surrounding rock and fell downwards. The white clones pushed and struggled to get out of the way fast enough, but their large number was packed together too tightly. Bound to the spot because of their neighbours, they could only stand there before they were crushed with a sickening _crunch._

Sakura herself grabbed her axe and leapt up to the surface to safety. From the corner of her eye, she saw Kisame rush forwards, gathering himself to jump after her.

What happened next was luck, really. The shark-nin took his step of doom and slipped, landing flat on his back as the skateboard he had just stood on zoomed through the air, thrust by the force of Kisame's fall.

Sakura outright laughed as she watched from safety, peering through the massive hole to the chaos underneath. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be escaping and jerked herself upright, whipping around at the same time.

Her blood froze.

"Naughty, Sakura-chan. What mischief did you cause this time?"

Madara.

She let out a yelp of surprise and nearly fell back into the hole she had created. How had she not sensed him? Fear squeezed her heart, but she stood firm and snarled:

"Get out of my way!"

Her hostility didn't faze the Uchiha as he chuckled. The light-hearted sound did not deceive Sakura—she could feel the boiling anger emanating from him.

'_Now what?!' _she screamed at herself. She was out of tools. All she had was her axe.

She considered her options in a split second.

One, she could turn around, leap over the hole in the ground, and make a run for it in the opposite direction of Madara. No, that wouldn't work, he'd just catch up to her.

Two, she could leap back into the hole and deal with Kisame rather the Madara. That was likewise a bad idea, since that damn Uchiha could just appear anywhere he wanted to.

Three… attack him with her mind. Again. Yes, that was what she would do.

She cleared her mind of fear and worry, connecting her two minds with a snap. Anger fuelled the desire to overcome the elder Uchiha, and she launched herself mentally with a yell.

As expected, he pulled out those other minds of his to counter her attack. She pushed harder, slamming into his minds with brutal strength and throwing them out of her way.

'_Where is his real mind?!'_

She had to find it! If she could destroy Madara's real mind, then she could kill him.

Desperately barrelling through the endless sea of minds, she noticed that Madara was slowly moving towards her body. His advance was slow, his gait struggling, but he was moving nonetheless.

'_How can he have such a large consciousness to control all these minds and still move?'_

She sent a fraction of her own mind and consciousness back to her body which allowed it to slowly move out of harm's way. Sakura almost laughed out loud as Madara swung at her face in slow motion, while her body ducked underneath the punch, also in slow motion.

While their minds battled faster than the speed of light, their bodies continued to throw ultra-slow punches and kicks at each other. It was like those crappy slow-mo movies where one character goes: "N-o-o-o-o-o-o!"

Just then, there was a loud _boom _from underneath their feet and the floor rocked dangerously. Sakura guessed it to be Kisame's doing. She increased her efforts—flitting between two attacks from two minds, she sent a blast of pure mental energy outwards, clearing herself some breathing space. And that's when she saw it.

'_Madara… has no real mind…?!'_

The shock wave from her blast had spaced all the minds evenly around her. And no matter where or how far she looked, she couldn't spot his real mind.

'_What the hell?! What kind of a monster is he? He has no real mind!'_

A dark chuckle rolled through her inner ear and Madara said smoothly:

"_Sakura-chan, you're letting your imagination run wild. No mind? That is impossible, and you know it."_

"… _but I just can't find your damn mind!"_

She felt his minds cluster together once more and prepared for another tussle with the Uchiha. He continued to laugh at her, even as he attacked.

"_I'm not stupid, Sakura. I've fought many people from your clan. Do you think I'd keep a weak spot like that so blatantly obvious?"_

"_Wait… what do you mean, you 'fought with many from my clan'?"_

Madara didn't respond and rage welled up inside of Sakura.

"_Answer!"_

She felt that he had no inclination to do so and launched herself at him recklessly. She focused on one mind and tackled it with every ounce of strength, invading it so quickly that Madara couldn't counter the blow. As she shattered the resistance in that one mind, she plunged into his stream of thoughts. From there, she pounced on his thoughts and wrestled with him for about a minute. She dodged his blows, delivering her own, and finally broke into a small casket of memories.

**Flashback**

Heaps of bodies, strewn across the blood-soaked ground, lay under the glare of a crimson sun. The crows and scavengers wheeled in the sky, some of them landing amidst a flutter of wings to prey on the dead.

He stood in front of a small pile of corpses. He felt no remorse as he examined a young girl, who lay in a pool of blood that was nearly as red as her flaming hair. Her emerald eyes were glazed with death's cold shadow.

He was the only one alive in this godforsaken battlefield…

…because he had killed them. _All _of them, down to the last child.

**End of Flashback**

Gasping, she flung the memory away from her, disgust and loathing. It had felt as if she'd murdered all those people with her own hands! She felt dirty, tainted, and sick to the stomach.

Pity for the dead flooded her mind, and she shoved Madara away from her.

"_YOU. COMPLETE. BASTARD!" _she shrieked, her mental voice piercing. _"YOU…! YOU MURDERER!"_

"_Ah, come now, Sakura-chan. All shinobi have killed at once point or another."_

"_You __**sick, twisted, utterly psychotic, morally degraded madman!**__ There were some children! They weren't even seven years old!"_

"_They chose to oppose me," _Madara stated lazily. _"Do they deserve more compassion than adults if they chose their path?"_

Beyond words, Sakura just screamed her rage at him. Her thoughts were as black as thunderclouds and she hurled bolt after bolt of mental energy at her with such force that she actually landed some hits on his minds. But, as her blows destroyed those minds, she felt a strange tingling sensation in the back of her mind which pulled her out of her furious rampage.

She had hit three minds and now, three voices whispered quietly:

"_Free… We are free to go…" _That voice was an old man, sounding disbelieving.

"_What a mess we were in," _a young woman snorted with disgust.

"_Okaa-san? Where are you? I feel much better now…!" _the voice of a small boy piped up, sounding confused and a little hopeful.

Their voices grew fainter and fainter, as if they were drifting away, and Sakura felt as if she'd been hit by a steam engine.

"_No…"_ she whispered hoarsely, a sob building up inside of her, _"No…!"_

A cruel laugh emitted from Madara.

"_Yes, Sakura-chan. You guessed it. These voices… these minds… they are not mine. Come, Sakura. Come and greet your family."_

XxXxX

They really were in a pinch this time. Team Taka had picked a fight with the wrong guy. Somehow, and Sasuke still couldn't figure out how, the Hachibi Jinchuriki had morphed into a gigantic purple-gray ox with eight octopus tentacles instead of tails. And yet, Killerbee continued to spout his ridiculous rhymes even in the form of a Biju. How could he be taken over by the Eight Tails and still be sane?

Taka was in a very bad situation.

Sasuke had tried engaging Killerbee in a simple sword fight, but the Hachibi was an expert when it came to using blades. Furthermore, they discovered rather belatedly that, as a lightning ninja, Killerbee could also stream his chakra. Thus, chidori wouldn't work.

The young Uchiha had already been healed once by Karin. And when Sasuke had tried to use Tsukuyomi, the Hachibi had broken out of it as easily as if the illusion had been created by an inexperienced genin. Sasuke had left an opening when he'd turned his back on the Eight Tails, and was caught completely unawares, his entire chest getting blown away by Killerbee's 'Lariat' attack.

Currently, Suigetsu was using a monstrous water style defence to try and buy Sasuke time to escape.

"Come on!" the water nin bellowed. "What are you just standing there for? Hurry and get away!"

"As if I'd let you!" Killerbee roared. He tilted his head back, opening his maw, his eyes beginning to glow. Karin gasped as she felt the Eight Tail's impossibly large chakra surge and yelled:

"We gotta get outta here!" The three of them sprinted off, but they were not even nearly fast enough.

'_BOOM!'_

The explosion was colossal, the shockwave blasting outwards and wiping the nearby mountains off the face of the earth. Shards and pieces of rock were reduced to nothing more than sand, pulverized by the sheer force of the explosion.

Suigetsu took the full brunt of the attack. He washed up on the shore, looking like a popsicle that had been half melted by the sun. Taka stared at him in shock.

"Damn, even Suigetsu is completely spent," Karin hissed. Her glasses were cracked and her face was so full of fear it could be counted as a panic attack.

"What do we do?" Juugo asked frantically.

'_Suigetsu…' _Sasuke felt his throat tighten at the sight of the water-nin's state.

'_Karin… Juugo…' _They were both panting, and Juugo's boy-sized form quivered with fright.

'_Suigetsu Karin Juugo Suigetsu Karin Juugo SuigetsuKarinJuugoSuigetsu…!'_

And that was when it hit him.

Karin had depleted her chakra by healing him. Juugo had been reduced to the form of a young boy in order to replace vital organs in Sasuke's chest. And now, Suigetsu had been blasted away by the Hachibi's massive attack.

And it was all because of him.

The realization slammed into him and he felt a sudden rage grow in him. How could he just stand and watch his team protect him? He was supposed to protect them, dammit!

His head felt like it was going to explode. In the midst of the chaotic mess of his mind, a picture gleamed like a ray of hope.

Team 7 as it was three years ago. And…!

Sakura slumbering peacefully, yet in mortal danger, at the Akatsuki base.

His eyes burned in response to the tumult inside of him. And before he knew what he was doing, he had opened one eye and thought:

'_Amaterasu!'_

Black flames, hotter than anything in this world, sprang forth out of nowhere and consumed the Hachibi's body. The monstrous ox bellowed in agony, thrashing and lashing out as it wallowed in the shallow water. As more and more black flames appeared and devoured the Eight Tails hungrily, the bellows and roars turned into whimpers of pain.

Tentacles flailed, churning up the water and sending the four Akatsuki members flying in all directions. Sasuke and Juugo, who was carrying Suigetsu, managed to get far away from the writhing Biju, but Karin wasn't as lucky. She shrieked as the shadow of a tentacle engulfed her.

Before it could crush her, Sasuke split that tentacle off with a chidori blade. But as she sat there, panting with relief, another burning tentacle smacked her in the back, setting her clothes on fire.

"It's too late for Karin!" Juugo muttered. "C'mon Sasuke, we have to escape!"

"Stay put!" Sasuke snapped. He focused his eyes on Karin, mentally _ordering _the black flames to obey him. They crackled and unwillingly relinquished their hold on the redhead, retreating back into Sasuke's eye.

'_It works…' _he thought. An idea struck him and he turned his gaze to the dying Hachibi, recalling the flames there too. After a struggle, the Amaterasu was completely gone, leaving the charred body of Killerbee's normal form behind.

"Juugo," Sasuke panted, "get Karin and the Hachibi. We're leaving here."

He hardly watched as Juugo hurried to obey, lost in his own thoughts as they sprinted out of the area.

'_That was too close', _he thought, his anger rising, _'We were almost killed! Madara will pay for this…!' _He felt his protectiveness for his team grow ten-fold as he glanced over at his three companions. They had risked their lives for him, and that somehow ignited a torturous burn in his gut.

Team Taka had grown on him, and now he was forced to admit that he wanted to protect them just like he had wanted to protect Team 7 back in Konoha.

XxXxX

"WHAT?!" the Raikage roared, getting to his feet. "IS THIS TRUE?!"

"H-Hai, Raikage-sama…" the messenger ninja gulped. "My senpai went after them."

"Tell me EVERYTHING, down to the last detail!" the massive Raikage ordered.

"They were black cloaks with red clouds—like the ones who had abducted Yugito Nii-sama. And one of them had the Uchiha crest stitched onto his back."

"An _Uchiha?!_" Enraged, the leader of Lightning Country punched his table, completely destroying it.

"Those _damn_ Konoha shinobi! They can't even keep track of their own _fucking _traitors!" He strode to his door and flung it open, roaring:

"Samui! Get a team together and send a message to the Hokage _immediately! _At once, do you hear? _I WANT MY BROTHER BACK!"_

XxXxX

Sakura was _scared_. So scared that her joint mind reacted to her fear and immediately retreated back into her body. Panic swamped her, holding her in its cold grip, and with that, her two minds acted instinctively.

Their united power reached out, forming a net, and surrounded Madara's minds. The area her two minds covered was massive—there was no way to escape. And as he struggled to free himself from her grasp, she brutally ripped the minds forwards into her own body, paralysing him.

Instantaneously, Madara's consciousness defended itself by flowing into her own mind, trying to subdue her. Not mingling her own thoughts, though, but still flooding her mind with countless memories. Blood-red battle scenes flashed before her eyes, torturing her, and with that she lost it.

"**NOOO!"**

The scream was earsplitting. She didn't even realize that her own throat and lips had produced the raw yell until after she had slammed her fist into Madara's stomach. The elder Uchiha—still caught up in the battle mentally and not physically—couldn't flicker away fast enough and it was so that Sakura landed the very first hit on him for the first time in decades.

His body convulsed, his consciousness sliding out of Sakura's mind, and he doubled forwards with a choked snarl.

"Bitch!" he rasped before straightening up. Before he could recover, Sakura came at him again with a rock-hard hit to the face. He reeled and already received a bone-shattering kick that sent him sprawling over the ground. He tried to stand and make himself insubstantial, but she swung at his face—without any chakra—screaming:

"SHANNARO-O-O!"

His mask shattered as she punched him in the cheek. Her blow pushed him over the edge of the hole she had created earlier on, sending him tumbling to the floor below where the white Zetsus and Kisame were still struggling to recover.

Panting, Sakura wrenched herself upright, staggering over to look into the hole just in time to see Madara disappearing under the chaotic mass of white clones. Eyes wide and heart beating so quickly it was nearly a constant hum, Sakura whipped around and launched herself towards the exit. She bypassed several traps that fired kunai and shurikan at her, not even bothering to undo them. The only thing that mattered was to get _out_ and _away _from this _horrible _place.

XxXxX

**A/N**

Phew, this chapter was a _bugger_ to write! I had to rewrite the Killerbee fight three times before I decided to make it shorter and less detailed. I guess that means that it doesn't compensate for skipping out on Pain's invasion, but from the reviews I received I gathered that you guys didn't miss that too much.

And we all love Konohamaru and his misguided attempts to help make the world better. But, since Sakura could use his skateboard for a good cause, his idea of linking his room to a seal wasn't so bad, ne?

I hope you guys are curious about Madara's many minds. He got them from the Rokukan _somehow_, but I'll leave it at that so you can ponder about it. Where's the fun otherwise? *wink*

Anyways, yeah, Sakura kicks ass! She rocks, seriously!

Reviews, anybody? Please? *puppy eyes*

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Shimatta! – something like 'Shit!' or 'Dammit!', it's just an expression of the 'Oh no!' feeling…


	19. Chapter 19

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_How easy it is to stray from the path of light, for it is difficult to travel on, and so narrow that one could overlook it._

XxXxX

**A/N **

_**I. Hate. The. Flu**__._ Being sick always throws my schedule into complete chaos.

XxXxX

XxXxX

**Chapter 19**

Danzo listened attentively as his scouts told him that a team of four Cloud nins were nearing with an urgent message from the Raikage.

'_So, Kumo has sighted the Uchiha brat', _he thought, his lips curling into a grim smirk.

"Thank you. You are dismissed."

His scouts bowed and disappeared in a flash, leaving Danzo to pace back and forth on the smooth, tiled floor behind his desk. Pausing, he reached to his chair and picked up the robe that only the Hokage was permitted to wear. He fingered the material and the next smile was sheer self-satisfaction.

As he donned the cloak and hat, he let himself bathe in the glory of his position, and the power he now held.

'_Konoha is under __**me!**__ Sarutobi, I wish I could see the look on your face!'_

Rapid pounding on his door interrupted his gloating thoughts and shook dust from the wall and doorframe. Glaring in irritation, the old man snapped:

"Come in!"

The door slammed open to reveal two of his guards holding fast to a struggling hawk. It shrieked and hacked at the two men, trying to beat its wings. Its dark eyes glittered with resentment.

"Danzo-sama," the two guards bowed deeply. The hawk took advantage of the movement and freed one of its wings, smacking one guard across the face. The man winced but didn't react any further, even though the blow must have hurt from the way his eyes watered.

"We caught this hawk entering Konoha with a message for the Hokage. However, it didn't carry any identification tags like hawks from the other hidden or ninja villages. It doesn't even have a civilian village's tag."

"Did you take the message from it?"

"Hai, Danzo-sama." One of the guards released his hold on the bird, striding forward to offer a scroll to the old man.

As the Rokudaime Hokage opened the scroll, his brows met in a deep frown.

_To the Godaime Hokage,_

_From the Rokukan Priests,_

_Greetings,_

_We are very distressed by the news of Rokukan Sakura's disappearance. We will immediately send out search parties from our own temple, and we will welcome all the help we can get from Konoha. If she is found by us, we will alert Konoha as soon as is possible._

_Rokukan Takeshi_

"Rokukan? Who are the Priests of Rokukan?" Danzo's frown grew even deeper as he re-read the message. He had never heard of 'Rokukan', or any other temple other than the Temple of Fire. He also noted that it was specifically addressed to the Godaime Hokage. Whoever had sent this did not know of Konoha's current condition.

"Sagate, both of you!" he snapped at the two guards. "Dispose of the hawk."

"Hai!" they nodded, and one man already pulled a kunai from his holster. The hawk shrieked as the two men dragged it out of the room.

Danzo resumed his pacing, but now he had different things on his mind.

'_Rokukan Sakura… We have no Rokukan Sakura in Konoha. The only Sakura I know of is Haruno Sakura. But this letter indicates that whoever this Sakura is has disappeared. And Tsunade would know who these Rokukan people are…'_

If Konoha didn't have Rokukan Sakura in its archives, then there was a possibility that Tsunade had been dealing with outsiders. Foreigners. Enemies. How well had she known them? And thinking of that… how much information on Konoha had she told them?

Slightly alarmed, Danzo called for a messenger to fetch the Village Elders. It could be, however unlikely, that they had heard of these mysterious Rokukan.

XxXxX

Sasuke couldn't ignore the growing tension that coiled in his stomach. His eyes throbbed with the pulse of his heart, and he knew that his Sharingan had awoken without his conscious permission. The realization aggravated him; he should have more control than this.

But with his team practically dead on their feet, it was hard to grow angry at such a trivial matter. There were much more important things that required his immediate attention.

'_Madara almost got us killed', _he thought angrily. _'Was it some kind of test, pitting us against the Hachibi?' _Sasuke wouldn't put it past his ancestor to do so.

Now that he and his team were out of immediate danger, his thoughts wandered back to a certain pink haired woman.

What was he going to do with her? He had already accepted the fact, however reluctantly, that he could not leave her behind at Madara's base. He planned to go back, act as if everything was normal to fool the elder Uchiha, and then somehow get her and his team out of there and leave. Yes, he was through with Akatsuki.

"Sasuke-kun?" Karin's voice jarred him out of his plotting. Glancing back, he saw her staring at him with pure exhaustion in her eyes.

"What?" he bit out, a part of his mind still planning on how to get Sakura out of the base without anybody noticing.

"Why are we heading this way? Th-This is the way back to Madara's base." The redhead clearly shuddered. She did not like the Akatsuki at all—apart from Sasuke, of course.

"Hn."

"Sasuke-kun!" She whined.

When he didn't answer, anger boiled inside of her, conquering her weariness. Shrilly, she burst:

"It's for that pink-haired Konoha _bitch_, isn't it? Sasuke-kun, _why_ are you going back for her? We'll be in even more danger so close to Madara! She isn't worth—"

"Be silent."

Karin gaped at the young Uchiha. She couldn't see his face, due to her position behind him, but she felt his chakra toss and roll wildly when she mentioned Sakura.

'_Why?' _she thought sullenly, _'Why her? It's always her!' _An image of the pinkette's door, guarded by Sasuke's chakra, flashed through her mind. She gasped, an idea crashing into her with the strength of a freight train.

'_He… He __**likes**__ her?! __**Her**__?!'_

She fought off the wave of panic. No! No, no, and no! Her Sasuke-kun couldn't like that spoiled brat of a kunoichi! She was a child, and what's more, she was a Konoha shinobi, and very loyal at that! How could Sasuke like that little medic?

Increasingly becoming more agitated, the redhead didn't notice a chakra signature nearing. So consumed was she with drowning in panic that she did not even register that the signature belonged to the very kunoichi she so detested. It would be much, much later until she would realize just how much she missed.

XxXxX

The first gulp of fresh air she had breathed in days was pure relief. Gulping in huge amounts of the air of the outside world, Sakura desperately wiggled her hips to try and squirm out of the hole she was partially sticking out of.

She had followed the tunnel after she had beat Madara back into the underground hole, but had encountered unexpected security measures at the exits, namely traps and illusions. She couldn't afford to waste any chakra on punching her way through the barriers. Unfortunately, she couldn't waste any time either. So she had used some chakra to punch as small a hole as possible in the wall and wriggled through.

'_Usually I'm happy that my hips have grown wider', _she thought sourly, _'but now I wish I were as thin as a rail.'_

Taking a deep breath, she stemmed her arms against the surrounding rock, tugging her body towards outside as hard as possible. Her waist felt like it was stretching impossibly long, and then with a jolt, she ripped the rest of her body out of the hole.

As soon as she landed, she took off in a full tilt sprint. Paranoia of being watched by the elder Uchiha pushed her to her utmost limits in speed as she headed east, following the sinking disc of the red-gold sun as it dipped below the horizon. She didn't quite know where she was, but she assumed that she was in one of the western countries, sandwiched between Wind and Earth Country.

She ran the rest of that day and onwards the next morning. By midday, her legs sent reports of absolute pain and fatigue up her nerves, screaming at her to stop. She was low on chakra, and not in good health. She hadn't had a bite to eat for roughly three days, and still, she ran on.

The last thing Sakura remembered was collapsing out of sheer exhaustion as the sun started to set, marking the time of a whole day after her escape. Judging by the endless plains of long grass, she assumed she was in Kusa. She would have run straight back to Konoha if she could, but her limbs had just folded like wet rags, letting her tumble gracelessly into the thick, tall grass. Forcefully, she was reminded that she had just run the entire day without a break after having fought an epic, draining battle against some of the Akatsuki members prior to the running. Her last thought was:

'_Well, at least nobody can see and find me…' _And right after that she blacked out.

Unbeknownst to her, a consciousness brushed hers with alarm tingeing its surface. Quickly, it assessed her condition by checking her physical energy before turning to the mental energy. It tried to probe into her thoughts, but there was absolutely none.

"_Sakura?"_

When she didn't answer, the consciousness withdrew.

Twelve miles away, at the border of Kusa, Ame and Konoha, Azami's eyes snapped open.

"Tou-san!" she shrieked. "I got her!"

"Where?" he bellowed back from his position ahead of her.

"North-west, twelve miles! Haiyaku, I think she's unconscious!"

"Yoshi, kick up the pace!" Takeshi commanded up front.

The Rokukan sped up, their tempo reducing them into mere blurs as they sped over the grassy plains. Takeshi sprinted in the front, directly behind him were Ran and Ken. Azami kept close to their heels, with Eiri taking the rear.

The moon shone coldly on them as they raced onwards. Time meant everything—Azami feared that they would come too late. Whoever had waylaid her cousin bore no goodwill towards the pinkette. As they ran, one of them kept up a continuous scan of the land around them, checking for the presence of Sakura. Finally, as the moonlight began to surrender to the rising sun, Ran suddenly squealed with excitement.

"I found her, Otou-san!"

Before they could stop him, he shot ahead, slightly to the left. Abruptly, he blew to a stop, almost faceplanting at the sudden absence of movement.

Takeshi firmly pushed the boy to the side as he knelt down next to Sakura. She was curled into a tight ball, her face showing exhaustion with dark rings under her eyes and her clothes filthy. Furthermore, there was somehow greasy, black oil coating her hands and legs.

"What happened to her?" Azami asked, horrified.

"That doesn't matter now!" Takeshi snapped, turning her as gently as possible, his fingers probing her spine and limbs, trying to discern any injuries. She seemed fine, except for the fact that she was bony and pale, and out cold.

Once he deemed it safe to move her, he slowly draped her across his back. She hung limply on his back, her breathing hitching and coming in short, shallow gasps.

"Let's teleport back," Takeshi ordered. "Eiri, take us to the nearest seal."

Nodding, the elder man took the lead and raced away, the others on his heels. It took about half an hour for Eiri to find a small village deep in the heart of Grass Country.

The tiny collection of houses could hardly be called a village, but two sentries stood on guard and hailed them as the Rokukan drew closer. Eiri responded with a strange, garbled word and raised two fingers to his lips as the customary greeting between ninja. The guards immediately lowered their weapons and came forwards.

"Rokukan-san," one of them said politely as they drew to a stop. "How can we help you?"

"We need access to the seal to the Temple," Takeshi said. The two guards inclined their heads and led them into the village. In the middle stood a perfectly ordinary well, complete with a little roof to shed rain and a crank to haul the bucket up and down. At a word and hand sign from the guards, the stone walls the surrounded the well sank into the ground, revealing a long flight of spiral stairs leading down into the darkness underneath.

Takeshi descended first, with the rest of his family trailing after him. As they went deeper and deeper into the bowels of the earth, the air grew moister and warmer, clinging to their skin in a damp embrace. What's more, the Rokukan began to detect traces of chakra laced through the very air of this underground staircase. Layers of thousands of different chakras were interwoven to spin an elaborate cocoon of protection. Even every time one of the Rokukan took a breath, the hundreds of chakra blankets monitored and registered it.

Ken's eyes grew wide when one particularly aggressive chakra chain spun around him, the feel of it almost tangible, and he whispered:

"Ne, Azami-onee-chan?"

"Doushita, otouto?"

"Why are there so many chakras here? It's scary…"

As Azami searched for the right wording, Eiri turned around and explained in a quiet voice:

"We are entering the sacred grounds of a Temple. Generations of the most powerful Priests have combined their powers over time, each one adding a little more protection to the pool of barriers that are placed here. If we were intruders, we would not last long here."

"Oh," Ken's eyes grew, if possibly, wider, "Does our temple have them too?"

"Of course, baka," Azami muttered. "You just don't notice it because the barriers were created by Rokukan, and you yourself are Rokukan."

Ran watched the exchange with interest and piped up:

"Onee-chan, does that mean that this isn't part of our temple?"

"Nope, it belongs to a different Clan, one that is almost extinct, just like ours. Get it?"

Ran and Ken glanced at each other with confusion scrawled over their faces, before looking back at their half sister.

"No."

Azami sighed.

"You two didn't _honestly _think that we were the only Clan in the world that had Tenjutsu?"

"Uh…" The twins looked away sheepishly, both of them sweatdropping.

Takeshi stopped up front, turning his head to glare at them over his shoulder.

"Ran, Ken," he said sternly, "Were you two even listening when I explained this subject to you a year ago?"

More awkward silence.

The fiery, red haired woman groaned in exasperation.

"You guys are impossible."

"Gomen!" the boys chirped, entirely too cheerful to sound truly sorry.

Takeshi's eyes were mere slits as he stared them down, before he shook himself and moved onwards.

"Since both of you have no clue anymore, I'll explain quickly.

"The Rokukan are under protection of the stars. Stars are under order of the kami. So, indirectly, we serve all the kami. The Sage of the Six Paths was blessed by the stars, just as we are. But that's not all—he was also blessed by the two other heavenly beings, namely the sun and the moon. Therefore, he was under protected by all three.

"The sun and the moon have their own Clans that they influence. We are here in the Sun Temple, home of the Naien Clan. The other Temple, the temple of the Moon, is run by the Yumihari Clan.

"We all have our own gifts—the Naien are the Spirit of Life, the Yumihari are the Body of Life, and we, the Rokukan are the Consciousness of Life. You see?"

"Ohh…" Ken scrunched up his face and thought for a while. His twin copied him, minus the scrunched up face, before suddenly asking:

"Does the Sage of the Six Paths have all of our abilities?"

"Hai. And his three sons started the three different Clans."

"EH?! But there were only two sons!"

"No, the eldest one represents the Moon, the next one the Sun, and the youngest the Stars. I have my suspicions why the youngest son was never mentioned, but there is no confirmed theory as to why he's left out."

The twins seemed at loss for words as they blinked in utter confusion. Azami almost laughed at her two idiotic, absolutely adorable half-brothers and said:

"You boys just chew over your relearned lesson. All you have to know for now, though, is that these are Holy Grounds, and they don't belong to our Clan. So, behave, both of you!"

"Hai!" they snapped mock salutes simultaneously.

The next ten minutes were travelled in silence. Finally, they reached a heavy metal door at the very bottom of the staircase.

Takeshi motioned Eiri to take Sakura off his back, which the elder man wordlessly did, and faced the door.

The symbol of a sun and flames licking around it was engraved into the black metal, and the air hummed with chakra.

For a heartbeat, there was silence, but then, slowly, the sun stirred, opening to glowing, white-hot eyes.

"Who seeks entrance to the Temple of the Sun?" a hundred voices at once asked in harmony. The white eyes burned with inhuman strength.

"The High Priest of the Temple of the Stars, Rokukan Takeshi, and his fellow Priests and family, Rokukan Azami, Ran, Ken, and Eiri," Takeshi answered formally.

The sun's eyes blinked slowly, and suddenly, the air snapped and crackled with white flames that didn't burn flesh, but the mind. All the Rokukan stiffened as the flames licked through their hearts, reading their entire being in the span of a few seconds.

Finally, the invisible heat dissipated and the sun said:

"Your intentions are noble and your hearts are pure. You may enter with the blessings of the High Priest Naien Hinoke."

"Arigato gozaimasu," Takeshi bowed.

As he straightened, the door swung open silently, and the Rokukan filed into the hall beyond. Torches that burned with strange white fire were placed in even intervals, creating enough light to see everything as clearly as if it were daytime. Closed doors lined the sides of the hallway, but Takeshi ignored those and went straight to the end of the corridor; his attention was fixed on the door there.

When his hand raised in a loose fist to rap on the door, it swung open by itself.

Azami's eyes widened at the man who had opened the door.

His hair was white-gold, like the blinding rays of the sun. A tawny beige-brown kimono threw contrast onto his sapphire blue eyes as he looked at them with a friendly smile. He had to be around Azami's age, probably 18 or 19, and he was tall with broad shoulders.

"Welcome, Priests of the Star Temple. My name is Naien Inazuma."

"Hajimemashite, Naien-san," Takeshi watched as Inazuma bowed at the waist before him, only tilting his head a fraction. Azami, however, received only a polite nod from the golden haired man. She returned the gesture, but was slightly offended at that, until he continued:

"My father, the High Priest, sent me to be your guide through the Temple. Follow me, please."

Azami realized then that she had been treated thusly because both she and Inazuma were the future High Priests to their temple. Her father, the High Priest of the Rokukan, had received a full bow, but she, as Inazuma's equal, had been given a neutral nod.

The blue eyed man led them through pleasantly lit corridors until they entered a large room with a high ceiling. A smokeless fire crackled in the corner, and an elderly man was seated in front of it. He rose as they entered, turning shockingly pale blue eyes at them.

"Priests of the Star Temple, welcome," he said, his voice deep and gravelly. "How may I, Naien Hinoke, provide my assistance to you?"

"With all respect, we require access to the Seal to the Temple of the Stars," Takeshi replied courteously, "We have urgent reason to hurry back to our Temple."

Hinoke's gaze sharpened and his eyes landed on Sakura's limp form draped over Eiri's shoulder.

"I do not mean to pry, but what has befallen this young one?" he inquired.

"She was kidnapped and held captive for an extended period of time," Eiri answered this time. "Only recently did she escape."

"Naruhodo." Hinoke paused, drawing a painfully deep breath, before releasing it slowly.

"I must inform you, Rokukan-san, that we have a profound problem—a year ago, an unknown shinobi defied our protections and guardians. Our Temple, the building that used to stand above ground, is destroyed. The man – or woman – managed to steal two of the three Seals we keep here. Those two were the Seals to the Temple of the Stars and the Temple of the Moon. We do not have those two anymore."

Takeshi blinked, shocked, and Inazuma, who stood behind his father, lowered his head, his cheeks burning with shame. Azami, too, was stunned into silence, before blurting:

"Who could possibly have enough power to break through the protection that generations of Priests laid down? That's impossible!"

"As was proven to us, it unfortunately is."

Ran and Ken's eyes were round as saucers and the former whispered:

"What will happen to Sakura-chan now, tou-san?"

"We'll have to see," Takeshi said gravely. Bowing once more to Hinoke, he said:

"It seems I will need to ask shelter of you, Naien-san. Do we have your permission to intrude on your temple grounds?"

"Yes, you have. Inazuma," he waved his son forwards, "See to it that they are given clean quarters and good food. And get the young one to the care station—she looks dangerously thin and pale."

"Hai," Inazuma nodded and walked forwards, gently draping Sakura over his shoulder. He looked around and spotted Azami. Nodding towards her, he asked:

"Would you mind coming along and helping me?"

"Of course not," she answered, following him as he left the room.

Inazuma led her down two more hallways before entering a large grotto. Azami's tense muscles relaxed as the steam of the natural hot springs washed over her.

"Could you bathe her and get her clean?" She glanced at the young man beside her. He had dropped his formal tone and speech, looking for all the world like a normal, older teenager.

"Sure."

Inazuma left, leaving Azami and her cousin alone. The young red-haired woman was thankful for the privacy he gave her, and turned to gently wash Sakura. She had to bite back a scream as she saw dark bruises that curled like shadows all over her body, along with lots of small, shallow slices that were now puckered and swollen. There were long splinters buried in the palms of her hands, and black, greasy oil covered ever inch of her that had been exposed already.

"What happened to you?" Azami whispered.

It took half an hour to finish cleaning Sakura up, and at the end of that, Azami took a quick dip herself. She found extra clothes already folded and prepared for them near the door and dressed herself and her cousin quickly.

Sakura's dirty clothes had the Rokukan symbol on it, so Azami washed them as best as she could in the hot water. They came out nearly completely clean, and she hung them on the upward pointing tips of some stalagmites.

Inazuma came and helped her take Sakura into a brightly lit, clean smelling room and fetched a thick white ointment that he slathered over her inflamed wounds.

"Arigato, Inazuma-san," Azami said gratefully as she watched him.

"No problem. And just call me Inazuma." He smiled cheerfully at her. "My father and I may have spoken formally before, but we're really quite lax on uptight manners here at our temple."

"Suits me. It's the same at the Rokukan Temple. So you have to call me just Azami too."

Inazuma grinned and quickly double-checked his handiwork to make sure he hadn't missed any wounds before closing the jar of ointment.

"She's doing remarkably well considering that she should be having a sweating fever with those wounds," he commented.

"Sakura's a medic nin," Azami explained, "She's probably unconsciously healing herself already." Inazuma's eyes widened in surprise.

"She's that good a medic?"

"Better." The fiery redhead smiled with pride for her little pink haired cousin.

"Well, then let's hope she'll wake up soon," he stated, glancing at the unconscious medic. "In the meantime, would you like me to give you a tour of the temple?"

Azami looked at him sideways, letting his soothing, steady chakra signature wash over her, calming her from the stress of searching for Sakura.

"I'd love to," she smiled.

XxXxX

Madara was furious. Black rage simmered below the façade of calmness he had created as he glowered at the mask fragments in his hands.

How had she done it? How could she, the little hellcat who was merely 16 years old, land a hit to his person, he, Uchiha Madara? And to top it off, she had destroyed three of the minds he had collected, two of which were quite strong.

He fought to keep his Mangekyou Sharingan under control. It flickered in and out of existence as a result of his vexation.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, he thought wryly that he had not felt this challenged since fifty years ago. Between the three of them—Uzumaki Naruto, Rokukan Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke—Team 7 kept him on his toes. But he enjoyed the excellent game they presented him with, and he was sure he wouldn't lose.

Just then, he felt Sasuke's chakra signature fast approaching, returning from his mission, and unless Madara wanted to lose the younger Uchiha as well as the kunoichi, he'd have to pull himself together and convince the boy to stay with Akatsuki.

With a grim smirk, the elder Uchiha decided that Sasuke was ready to take the next step down the path of darkness.

XxXxX

Madara's appearance caused Sasuke's eyes to bleed red in an instance. His body coiled, tensing for a fight, and his hand flew to grip the hilt of his katana.

"Sasuke-kun," the elder Uchiha said calmly, "Listen to me for a second."

"No," he growled.

"You're being foolish if you attack me without hearing me out."

"I don't care!" Sasuke bit out, "You're ordering me and my team around as if we were disposable pawns and not allies. I am not a member of Akatsuki under your command like my brother was."

"Exactly. But this has something to do with your brother, Sasuke-kun, namely his murderers."

Despite his wrath, Sasuke immediately rose to Madara's bait.

"His murderers?"

"Do you remember Shimura Danzo?" Madara asked, watching in dark amusement as the younger Uchiha soaked up his words. Things were back to his plan now. Sasuke was falling for his trap, the foolish boy. Madara's sharp eyes caught the way his hand tightened around the hilt of Kusanagi. But still, the boy did not fly into rage as the elder Uchiha expected. He saw the way uncertainty flickered through Sasuke's eyes.

'_This must be because of the kunoichi', _Madara thought scornfully, _'she's been having quite an effect on him.' _ He laughed inwardly at the thought of the younger Uchiha trying to protect the pinkette from him. He was going to get the Konoha medic sooner or later, and even Sasuke, powerful as he is, didn't stand a chance before him.

"Shimura Danzo, the advisor of the Sandaime Hokage?" Sasuke's voice was carefully controlled and flat, but still, the thin veil of distrust and indecisiveness lingered in his eyes. An inner battle started within his mind—to trust or not to trust Madara.

"The very one," the elder Uchiha confirmed. "He was just recently promoted to the position of Hokage."

Red eyes flashed angrily at the newfound knowledge and Sasuke gritted his teeth, his thoughts for the pinkette violently pushed aside as hatred for his brother's tormentors washed through him.

'_How can that old man even think of gaining the title of leader of Konoha when he killed off his rivals with trickery and betrayal?' _he thought venomously. _'If it weren't for him, then there might even be an Uchiha as a Hokage by now!'_

"Where is he?" he asked, keeping an iron hand on his tone and expression. There were no outward signs of his inner turmoil as he stared his ancestor down.

"He has just received audience from Kumo nin, and has requested for a Five Kage Summit Meeting," Madara told him, "It will be held in the Land of Iron. He will most likely want to form an alliance with the other kage, and my guess is that he will appoint himself as leader. Then he'll want to come and kill you to make sure nothing remains from Itachi's failure."

Sasuke knew the Madara was goading him by mentioned his aniki's _mistake_ in that particular mission, but he couldn't help himself as his rage shot sky high.

"That was no _failure_," he spat from between his teeth. His voice, carefully neutral prior to Madara's barb, now seethed with hatred. "I'm going to the Land of Iron, Madara, and you can't stop me." All thoughts of Sakura were forgotten. His entire focus was now on avenging the injustice wrought upon his Clan.

"Quite the opposite, Sasuke-kun," Madara smirked, the movements of his lips hidden behind his partially repaired mask. Everything was turning out splendidly. He turned and started to flicker out of being.

"I'm going to come and help you with it. Meet me back at the base to prepare. We will avenge the Uchiha Clan's demise together. Come."

XxXxX

Voices. Blurred together, full of concern and worry.

Wearily, Sakura opened her eyes to stare at a white ceiling. The sight was becoming so familiar that she didn't feel the slightest surprise.

'_I'm in some kind of hospital room', _her sleepy mind surmised.

She rolled onto her side, wincing slightly as her bruised and battered flesh stretched. Blinking rapidly to focus her eyes, she finally made sense of the maroon coloured blotch sitting next her.

"Sakura! It's good to see you awake!" Takeshi's warm voice cleared her head a little further.

"Ojii-san?" she mumbled groggily. "What…?"

"Long story, all you need to know now is your safe. Take it easy."

"Um… Okay…" Yawning, she rolled back to look at the ceiling. "How long have I been out?"

"Only two days. You were toeing the line between a fever and no fever the entire time. How do you feel?"

"Pretty good." She blinked and then her eyes shot wide as memories poured through her now cleared mind.

"Akatsuki!" she gasped, "What happened to them? I fought them… and I got out of base… Where am I? Did they come looking for me? Does Madara know where I am?" Another wave of panic drowned her. "Oh kami-sama, he's probably toying with me by showing me an illusion!" she groaned.

"No, no! It's okay, it really is, Sakura!" Takeshi assured her. "It's really me, Rokukan Takeshi, your uncle. I taught you your kekkai genkai, remember? You baka went and found the Bloodline Limit records in the library even though I explicitly told you _not _to, and then you punched holes all over the Temple's training yards before poor Eiri managed to stop your furious rampage!"

Sakura sat there listening to her uncle rambling, and blinked. Then she burst out laughing.

Takeshi looked at her, taken aback, as his niece turned into a puddle of giggling, hiccupping goo on the white sheets of the bed.

"What did I say?" he grumbled, not liking being laughed at.

"It's really you, ojii-san!" she smiled between hiccups, "Your face was so serious but what you were saying was so… stupidly formulated! Priceless!" She dissolved into giggles once more.

"Fine, fine…" he groaned, "As long as you're happy and feeling better now…"

"Gomen ne," the pinkette finally calmed. "I do feel a lot better." She wiped the laughter tears from her eyes before her expression became serious.

"So, tell me how much I missed out on."

The next hour was spent on Takeshi informing Sakura about everything that had happened. How Tsunade had sent him a message that she had disappeared, how they had searched for her and found her in Grass Country, and finally where they were.

Sakura's green eyes were steadily growing larger and rounder as Takeshi gave a more detailed explanation of the Three Heavenly Temples.

"The Rokukan Temple really isn't the only one?" she whispered, awestruck.

"Hai," he nodded, "The Naien and Yumihari are on par with us. You see, the Naien have a kekkai genkai that can control and influence a person's 'spirit', meaning they can change a person's conscience. That means that they can completely alter people's identities.

"The Yumihari are masters of everything that has to do with material, although they excel at tricking the flesh as well. They originally could only mutate cells and re-grow them into anything they wanted or needed, but after a while they started to specialize in other things. Clans that have branched off of the Yumihari over time certainly do not lack in anything when it comes to their physical skill."

"Who are they, the Naien and Yumihari?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Well, the Naien managed to keep any branch Clans to emerge from their ranks, but the Yumihari didn't quite cope with that. The most famous example of a Yumihari branch Clan are the Hyuuga."

"Wait a sec…" Sakura's mind clicked as pieces fell into place. Then her eyes bugged wide.

"The Uchiha are descended from the Hyuuga," she blurted, her mind putting everything together. "And that means…"

"Yes, the Uchiha and Hyuuga's eye kekkai genkai are mutations that were created by the Yumihari. And the Yumihari are descendants of the Six Path Sage's eldest son."

"Sugoi," the pinkette murmured, utterly fascinated. So many things were connecting in her mind the more she heard from her uncle.

Her gaze slid back to Takeshi, and she found herself asking:

"But, ojii-san, why wasn't the youngest son ever mentioned? I really don't get that."

"I can only guess, Sakura, but I think that it is because he shamed himself by going against the gods. Again, I stress the point that this is a guess—I think that the Sage's youngest son, our ancestor and Clan founder, unleashed the Juubi all those years ago."

Sakura's mind went blank with shock.

XxXxX

XxXxX

**A/N**

Dun dun DUN! Total cliffie! Hehehehe…

I know, I know… I'm evil. That's what you all are saying to me. First, I don't update in something like 3 months, and then I make an evil, evil cliffie. But this was already a longish chapter and I will not add anything more onto Chapter 19.

I hope to be able to put up Chapter 20 by Christmas as a present to all of you faithful readers. Wish me luck, ne?

Plus, some people told me that my updates are too infrequent and that they had to go back a chapter or two to remember what had happened prior to the updated chapter. So, I'll start putting a summary at the beginning of each chapter. Sound good?

Oh, and one more thing: Somebody asked if I had any fan art or if I planned on drawing stuff myself. I can only make pencil drawings—I suck at colouring. But we'll see, maybe I'll get some pics up of the Rokukan.

Thanks for sticking by my story—and thanks _so much _for all the reviews! They make me extremely happy, dattebayo! ^_^

EbonyEye

XxXxX

'Sagate!' – 'Retreat!' or 'Fall back!'

Kusa – Grass

'Haiyaku!' – 'Hurry!'

'Doushita?' – 'What is it?' or 'What's the matter?'

'Hajimemashite' – 'How do you do?' or 'Pleased to meet you'

'Naruhodo' – 'I see' or 'So that's it'

'Gomen ne' – 'Sorry'

'Sugoi' – 'Amazing' or 'Wow' or 'Unreal'

XxXxX

The Three Clans:

Rokukan – Six Senses

Naien – Inner Flame

Yumihari – Erm… lots of meanings; the one I want to use is 'Crescent Moon'

XxXxX

XxXxX


	20. Chapter 20

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_Only the brightest light can free a world of darkness._

XxXxX

**A/N**

Here it is! The promised chapter for CHRISTMAS! YAAAYYY!

XxXxX

XxXxX

**Chapter 20**

The number of guards patrolling the perimeter of the grounds was staggering.

Red eyes, glowing like the red-hot coals in a dying fire, examined the guards one by one, staring at the different chakra signatures just to check again that the watchmen weren't all clones. As it was, they were all individuals, but Sasuke couldn't care less.

"Karin," his sudden call startled the redhead and she flinched.

"Hai?" she asked hesitantly.

"Where is Danzo?"

"Um… he's somewhere in this building for sure. I think he's near the top level, but there are so many powerful chakra signatures around him that I can't really tell."

She waited for some sort of acknowledgement from her stoic team leader, but she didn't receive any response. No grunt, no huff… not a single sound or movement. Karin knew that she would usually be irritated by the lack of interaction and would have complained… but this time, something in Sasuke's rapidly darkening chakra signature told her to stay quiet.

"What now, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked.

"They aren't ninja," the raven haired man gestured carelessly at the guards. "Their chakra signatures… they're somehow wielded differently."

"Samurai, then?" Juugo inquired quietly.

"Aa."

"Piece of cake! We'll take 'em out easily!" the ex-Mist nin bared his sharp, pointed teeth in a feral grin. He was already imagining the scenario of another good fight when Sasuke straightened to his full height and commanded in a cold tone:

"I'll go alone. Stay here."

"What the hell?!" Suigetsu spluttered indignantly, but the Uchiha was already gone. Sighing, the white haired nin turned to Juugo and muttered:

"He's changed…"

"I agree," the quiet man watched Sasuke silently slip into the shadows with deep concern in his orange-red eyes.

Karin pressed her lips together as she listened to what they were saying.

Her thoughts were conflicted. She still felt the irresistible attraction towards Sasuke's dark, handsome features, and his even darker, powerful chakra. But… he had treated her like a tool just now, not even as an inferior kunoichi in his team. He had ordered her to obey his command without the slightest indication that he thought about_ her_, Karin.

Grimacing, she pushed up her glasses.

'_I don't know…' _she thought, _'Hopefully this will pass. And otherwise…!' _Her thoughts took on a vengeful turn, directed towards a certain pink-haired medic.

'_It's all her fault!' _she spewed venom at her rival in her mind.

XxXxX

"J…Juubi?!" Sakura gasped. Her mind reeled. "But that makes no sense!"

"Yes, it does," Takeshi's voice was firm, and his expression was completely serious. "Eiri and I have been researching for a long time in the library, and there have always been scripts and books that were written centuries ago around the time of Six Path Sage. It's common knowledge among Rokukan who their ancestor was, and when I was just a boy, my father told me the hypothesis on the youngest son releasing the Juubi.

"You see, there's a series of records written by him about his more exciting moments, and one of them was when his father showed him how to use his second mind. The Sage already knew that his sons had each inherited one of his traits. Anyways, the youngest son was listening to the heavens when he chanced upon something.

"In his second mind, it was black and dark, and at first he dared not go any closer to it. He told his father about it, and his father answered:

"'_Son, when the gods created the fauna and flora of this world, there were many scraps of power that were not used. They banished it into the corners of the heavens, for power without a host is dangerous and unpredictable.'_"

"Power without a host?" Sakura wondered out loud.

"Yes, pure chakra without any material to bind it and control it. Chakra, raw chakra, doesn't have a mind of its own and will do what it does best: expand and change whatever it comes in contact with, be it material or immaterial matter.

"So, the youngest son was fascinated by the tale and little by little, he ventured closer to the black void. Soon, he was even touching it with his mind.

"It was incredibly powerful, all that accumulated chakra, and he decided that he would give it a host made out of matter so that it could come down from the heavens and live in this world. But the procedure was long and risky, and somehow, it went wrong.

"As the power destroyed its intended host, the youngest son panicked. He watched the chakra expanding and knew it was going to blot out any and all life in its path. In his panic, he acted foolishly.

"Reaching out with his two minds combined, he snared the moon, even though the moon is a sacred heavenly being. He brought it down to earth and managed to seal the chakra into it. The moon, with its higher capacity and stronger being, was able to absorb and hold all the power. But the moon is not meant to have chakra, so the chakra took over.

"By combining the two, a sentient being woke. And thus, the Juubi was born.

"At first, all it did was rampage without any goal or emotions. But when people began to fight it—all of them dying in the process—it began to hate. The hatred grew stronger every day as – wherever it went – it was hated for just being what it was, and doing what was its nature.

"So it was until the Sage of the Six Paths intervened, sealing the Juubi's chakra within himself, hurling the moon back to its original place. However, the moon never was quite what it used to be, seeing as pieces of it were devoured by the black chakra.

"He didn't want to give the entire Juubi to anybody, least of all his sons, so with his last strength, he managed to split it into nine pieces. And these nine pieces are the Bijuu that we have today."

XxXxX

Sakura was overwhelmed.

As she sat there, on her white hospital bed, listening to her uncle, her disbelief grew. If this was how the Bijuu came about, then why didn't anybody else other than the Rokukan know of it? It was important, after all!

"Ojii-san… why has this been kept a secret?"

Takeshi sighed and reached out, ruffling her hair as he answered.

"The youngest son's folly was kept private, for it was an embarrassingly stupid thing to do. And the knowledge of the Tailed Beasts being the Juubi is common knowledge among all people, shinobi or civilian. But the story of the Ten Tails being created out of chakra… Sakura, you've seen Madara. He obviously wants to create the Juubi all over again, under his command. Don't you see? If people knew of this, they would go around trying to collect chakra and condense it to create another powerful being. It's just too risky."

"Aha… I guess…" Thoughtfully, the pinkette stared at her hands as she twisted her fingers around each other.

"But then, why are the Clans founded by the Sage such a secret? There's nothing important about that!"

"Well, the Three Heavenly Temples used to be widely known, but when the numbers of Clansmen and Clanswomen decreased, people began to stalk and bother them, wanting impossible things from them. Some powerful shinobi even wanted to kill the ninja from the Three Clans to try and steal their kekkai genkai."

"I… I guess that makes sense…" she pondered.

"It's the same for every prestigious Clan, Sakura. Every single Clan with a valuable Bloodline Limit has to take drastic safety measures to keep their Clan secrets out of the wrong hands."

"Hai." Sakura stared at her hands. After a short, thoughtful pause, she started again.

"Ojii-san… which kinds of precautions have the Rokukan taken? I mean, what has our Clan done to hide and protect our kekkai genkai?"

"We have the temple underground, for one. And even though you don't feel it, our temple building above ground is protected by layers of illusions and hiding techniques performed by generations of Rokukan before us."

"How come I've never felt any of them before?"

"Because they were Rokukan, and you are a Rokukan. The jutsus are meant to keep intruders and outsiders away, not those of their own blood." Takeshi clarified.

"I see… But, ojii-san…!" Dread dawned in Sakura's eyes as a thought occurred to her. "It didn't work! Somehow, Madara was able to get in or something like that because he has thousands of minds but not a mind of his own, and he's got this huge chakra, and he has the Mangekyou Sharingan and—!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Takeshi gently shook Sakura's shoulders. He seemed calm outwardly, but his widened eyes hinted at his inner panic.

"What was all that?" he whispered quietly, dangerously.

Silence.

Sakura felt her chest rising and falling rapidly, emphasizing her hyperventilation. Taking a deep breath to stead herself, she looked up and stared her uncle in the eye.

"Ojii, I need to tell you what happened when I went missing…"

XxXxX

Madara had left Sasuke to his own devices, returning back to his hideout in the blink of an eye. He warped to his lab and bypassed the genjutsu he had laid around the entrance.

Glancing at the dozens of Sharingan eyes floating in jars, he strode past them. Past severed limbs and dissembled corpses, past bits and pieces of decaying flesh scattered over tables… he stopped in front of a huge, heavy metal door.

He couldn't warp into the room beyond the door—he'd seen to it that the only entrance was to pass under the doorway. Performing a long and difficult series of handsigns, he sent a pulse of energy to the door. He had placed a jutsu that only responded to his own, unique chakra frequency. As the door slowly swung open, Madara felt a wave of powerful chakra signatures hit him with the force of a battering ram. Quickly, he entered and sealed up the passage behind him.

The room was filled with thick silence and the nearly audible hum of hundreds of chakras.

His gaze flickered through the room with something akin to satisfaction, and he slowly made his way down the long hall.

It was eerily dark, and the few lights sustained by a jutsu threw shadows on the tall, glass containers.

The containers looked similar to the one Suigetsu had been imprisoned in, but these were by far larger. Furthermore, they were filled with clear, almost glowing white liquid, and each container had a multitude of instruments and machinery inside.

And, inside each container, at the heart of the machinery, were people. One person per container was suspended there; arms outstretched, eyes, shut, and head hanging limply. Oxygen masks covered the lower half of their faces and every once in a while, bubbles floated out of vents higher up on a nearby machine.

Madara paced past the containers, feeling the malicious glee well up inside of him. He had defeated these people, _all_ of them, by himself. He had proven his superiority time and time again against these accomplished ninja. The fact that he was still standing there, unbound and powerful, was proof enough that he was the ultimate god in the shinobi world.

Picking up his pace, he turned down a side aisle between the containers and made another turn, his steps sure and determined. He kept on going, through rows and rows of containers holding people, before finally stopping before one of them.

His breath caught as a wave of anger flooded him.

The container held a young woman. Her reddish magenta hair floated freely in the liquid surrounding her, and she was naked. At the first glance, she seemed to be just like the other captured people. But, as Madara stepped closer, he could see that she was not in the same state as the hundreds of others around her.

Her eyes, a vibrant light green colour, were open and blank, staring unseeingly through the class confining her. She looked as if she had tried to move within all the straps and tubes connected her to the machines around her, and, when Madara glanced upwards, he couldn't discern any bubbles floating out of the vents on top. She wasn't breathing.

Disgust coated his thoughts and his fingers twitched in irritation.

'_Damn you, Konoha bitch!' _he snarled inwardly, _'This one was strong!'_

Turning away, he stalked back to the main aisle and strode up the back wall. Lifting a hand and commanding 'Kai!' he dispelled an illusion that hid a huge panel of buttons, filling the room with the sounds of beeping and whirring.

Madara reached over to a blinking red button marked with the number 149, not hesitating as he forcefully pushed the button. Without wasting any more time, he turned and made his way to the next container.

The red button flared brightly, high-pitched beeping increasing in frequency… and then it and the surrounding few buttons went out.

Above the extinguished buttons was a small metal plate, engraved with kanji.

_Rokukan Kasuri_

XxXxX

The Temple of the Sun was utterly chaotic.

Just half an hour prior, the halls had been quiet and serene, and now, the sounds of running feet and alarmed shouts echoed off the stone walls.

After Sakura had informed her uncle of Madara's growing strength, he'd immediately alerted the Naien Clan of the danger. Now, the entire underground temple was bustling with activity.

A woman with golden hair curling in corkscrew locks down to her waist had come to aid the pinkette, letting her lean against her shoulder after Takeshi had left. Sakura discovered that the young woman's name was Naien Yuuhi, and she was somehow connected with Inazuma.

"Where are we going?" Sakura asked as Yuuhi led her down a hallway, both women keeping to the side as some people rushed past them.

"Towards the surface levels," Yuuhi replied, nodding at a passing person. "Those levels have our armoury and smithies."

The pinkette stared in awe as more people surged around them.

"Are these all Naien Clan members?"

"Not quite. You see, the Naien have long had their temple here, and over time a small village was built under their protection. These people all know of the Naien, and support them. We are very close allies."

"Ah, I see…" Just then, another woman rushed up to them, propping a crying baby on one hip and balancing a stack of metal ore in her other hand.

"Yuuhi! There you are!" she cried, her eyes slightly distressed. "Could you please help me and take Raiun? Hinoke-sama's been sending me back and forth to get the iron supply in the lower levels, and I swear Raiun just _won't stop crying!"_

"Hai, hai, give him here, sister." Yuuhi accepted the wailing baby boy and the other woman shot off.

At Sakura's questioning glance, she shrugged and said:

"That was Shikisa, my older sister. Raiun's her kid, and he definitely packs a scream." As if to prove her point, the youngster let out a shriek that could be heard clearly over the sound of the other people and bordered on ultrasound.

"Let me hold him," Sakura offered, "My legs don't quite work yet, but my arms are fine."

"Yes! Take him, the little monster," Yuuhi laughed and carefully handed the 'monster' over to the medic. Raiun's huge, navy blue eyes went perfectly round and, reaching up with small, chubby fingers, he hesitantly tugged on a lock of cherry pink hair.

"Thank kami," the blonde woman sighed, relieved, "That shut him up!" She pulled a smiling Sakura down the hallway, then up a flight of stairs. All the time, Raiun remained quiet except for the occasional pleased gurgle.

Suddenly, small brunette girl around the age of seven came pounding around the corner, almost ramming into them.

"Yuuhi-sama!" she exclaimed, "Hinoke-sama said that I should look for you. He needs to find Inazuma-sama and he's nowhere to be found!"

"Hold on a sec," Sakura hurriedly said before Yuuhi could answer, sliding her eyes closed. Delving into her second mind with half of her consciousness came with ease, and she swiftly spread her mind around the underground temple with speed that surprised herself.

"He's one level under us," she told the girl, "Near a huge cavern."

"Oh! The Endless Grotto! Arigato gozaimasu!" Immediately, the girl raced away.

Yuuhi let out a whistle as she continued onwards.

"So the stories about the Rokukan are true," she said, openly admiring. "You can feel the minds of other people. Must be pretty awesome."

Giggling, Sakura shifted Raiun's weight on to her other hip before replying:

"Yeah, I guess you can say that. What does your kekkai genkai do, exactly?"

"Oh, reads personality as clear as words in a book. Some of the Naien can even change the personality, but I can't. My sister can, though."

A sudden thought occurred to Sakura and she blurted:

"Wait, how old are you?"

"Twenty-three. You?"

"Sixteen."

"Damn, you've got talent," Yuuhi laughed. "We need to spar sometime, you and me."

"That would be fun," the pinkette grinned.

They rounded a corner and entered one of the main halls which was absolutely _packed. _People were yelling and calling as they tried to manoeuvre through the crowd, all of them pushing and shoving.

"Kami-sama…" Sakura groaned. "Tell me we don't have to go through this…"

It took the two kunoichi at least fifteen minutes to move down the hall, squished like sardines in a can against the wall of people and the wall of stone. Raiun started his crying again, despite the women's efforts to calm him, and to top it all off, Hinoke appeared and began barking orders.

"What a mess," Yuuhi muttered. As Sakura agreed, the blonde woman added:

"We Naien haven't fought a war for so long, I think we've forgotten how to prepare for one. This is just… um, chaotic."

"That's an understatement."

A red blur among all the brown and blonde heads of hair caught Sakura's attention, and then Azami popped up.

"Ohayo, Sakura!" she chirped sweetly.

"Why are you so cheerful?" said pinkette grumbled.

"Oh, chin up! C'mon, Inazuma said he could use some extra hands in the stables."

"… Wait, what? Stables?!"

Yuuhi laughed then and gave Azami a friendly smile.

"Naien Yuuhi, by the way," she said, "And you are…?"

"Rokukan Azami, Sakura's awesome kickass cousin."

"If you're so kickass, then hold this demon and come out alive." Sakura challenged, holding up Raiun. Azami took one look at the red-faced, squalling baby and deflated.

"Okay, maybe not so kickass… That kid's scary as hell!"

The three—excuse me, four—of them managed to get through the main hall and into an emptier, calmer one. Yuuhi quickly navigated down the maze-like corridors and they finally came to a long, spiral staircase.

"Be careful, we're going up all the way to the surface," she cautioned them before starting the steep ascent.

As they huffed and puffed their way up, Sakura asked:

"So, how many Naien are there?"

"Well, there's Hinoke-sama and Inazuma, then there's Shikisa, Raiun and me, and then there's our grandfather Kogeme."

Azami turned to look over her shoulder at the blonde and asked curiously:

"How are you and your branch connected to Hinoke and Inazuma?"

"Inazuma had an elder brother and my sister, Shikisa, was married to him."

"Was?" Sakura dared to ask.

"… He died a year ago."

"Oh. I'm sorry," the pinkette murmured, clutching Raiun tighter. Pity welled up inside of her for the small boy—he wouldn't have a father to watch and teach him while he grew up.

"His name was Shinku," Yuuhi said fondly, her eyes taking on a faraway look, "He adored Inazuma and always coached him, sparring with him and patiently teaching him jutsu. One would think that he was more like a father than a brother."

"What about Hinoke-sama?"

"That was the time when Hinoke was travelling a lot with the boys' mother to help establish smaller ninja villages. But then she got cancer and died, so he returned to the temple just in time for Kogeme to resign his post as High Priest."

Sakura nodded, sucking in the new information. She had always liked history, and it was even more interesting now since she knew that the Naien, Yumihari and Rokukan were all connected, even though the shared bloodline was ages ago.

The women chatted about Clan history and kekkai genkai until the finally reached the end of the monstrously long stairs. Yuuhi opened the door at the top, and suddenly, Sakura and Azami found themselves blinking in wonder at the long rows of stalls.

The smell of hay, horse, and leather washed over them, and Sakura almost squealed in delight at the dozens of horses staring curiously at them, stretching their necks over the half-doors of the stalls.

"Welcome to our Stables," Yuuhi grinned. "The Naien pride themselves as excellent horse breeders. These equines are as close to perfect as you can get."

Azami eyed the horses with slight mistrust, but Sakura bounded up to the first horse immediately.

"Sugoi…!" she breathed, reaching out with her free hand to rub the horse's velvet soft nose. Like any other girl, she had often wanted to have and ride a horse when she was small.

Raiun let out a happy burble and reached out. The horse stared at him with large, liquid dark brown eyes and blew through its nostrils, tousling the little boy's hair.

"Oi, Azami, aren't you going to come look?" Sakura asked over her shoulder. The redhead shook her head, carefully treading down the middle of the centre aisle, warily looking at the horses.

"I don't like horses," she admitted sheepishly, "and horses sure as hell don't like me."

They laughed at that, but their amusement was cut short when Inazuma appeared at the end of the stable, hurrying towards them.

"Oh, great, you guys got here! Come, help me with the tack," he begged them, "My father just left me with _a mountain _of saddles, bridles and whatnots to prepare—_all_ by _myself_!"

Giggling at his whiny tone, they all crowded into a small back room to polish, buff, and repair the tack.

Shikisa showed up after ten minutes, taking Raiun back after thanking Sakura fervently. Before the pinkette could say anything, the other woman whirled out the room back to her own tasks.

"Is she always like that?" Sakura asked Yuuhi.

"Yep," the blonde answered, "Ever since we were little, she's always been easily distracted and extremely erratic. But if she wants something bad enough she pursues it with frightening concentration."

"She's mental," Inazuma supplied from the other side of the room.

"No," Yuuhi snorted, "she probably has some sort of syndrome. That, or mom dropped her on her head."

Inazuma mock-gasped.

"That's it!"

Azami bonked him atop his head.

"Itai! What was that for?"

"You totally needed it."

Sakura laughed with them, feeling more relaxed than she had in weeks. Even with the threat of a battle with Madara and the frantic preparations, she was enjoying herself. These people were her family, even if they were only very distantly related.

'_Great', _she sighed to herself, _'More people that I might lose someday…'_

But she knew that all the worries about losing her important people were worth it in the end. She, unlike some anti-social retarded bastard, knew the value of having friends, and _keeping _them.

As the others chatted on about inconsequential things, Sakura retreated into herself, brooding about a certain dark-haired ex-teammate of hers.

What was he doing now? How had he reacted to her escape? Was he even thinking about her, wondering where she'd gone? Or did he not care about her at all?

Sakura's eyes slid shut, and unbidden memories washed through her mind.

After the fight with Deidara, he had insisted—ahem—forced her accompany him and his team. He had protected her pretty well, and he _had _saved her from Tobi, i.e. Madara.

And then, he had let her use his chakra to heal herself after they fought. In the cave, he had been _so close_. He had been more gentle than she had ever seen him.

But then, after the fight with Itachi and finding out the truth, he had tuned her out. Her attempts to save him from the staggering truth about the massacre had been ignored by him.

Nevertheless, when Madara had almost gutted her, he'd saved her yet again.

'_Ugh, this is just too complicated!' _she groaned.

He'd sealed her chakra—then gave it back before her escape. He'd given her beating for her insubordination—then helped heal her after the punishment.

'…'

… What was his _problem?!_

'_I don't think I'll ever understand him', _Sakura groaned.

"Ne, Sakura! Who do you think is louder—Ran and Ken, or Raiun?" Yuuhi's voice shook her out of her brooding.

"Huh? Oh, Raiun, most definitely!"

"Yeah, the kid's got massive lungs. He's way worse than the twins!" Azami agreed.

"Why?"

"Because I can clobber the two baka boys into silence, and not the cute, innocent, little Raiun."

Their laughter echoed in the small tack room, and Sakura found herself smiling.

'_No matter what stupidity Sasuke's let himself commit—I certainly won't. He has __**no clue**__ about all the fun and love he's missing out on by betraying his friends.'_

XxXxX

The busy activity in the underground temple calmed somewhat an hour later, and Sakura found herself itching to ride one of the horses. She had ridden ponies in her childhood days, and she loved the feeling of flying over the countryside by horseback.

Yuuhi caught her desperate, longing look and decided to do a favour to her new pink haired friend.

"Oi, Sakura, do you want to go for a ride?"

"_Nani?_ Honto?!" Sakura gasped.

"Yes, really. I'm sure now that the preparations are pretty much done, we can go for a day's ride or something. Azami, you wanna come?" she asked impishly.

"Gods, no!" the redhead backed away immediately, eliciting laughs from the other two women and Inazuma.

"You two can go, I'll stay here with Azami," the young man smiled.

"Awesome! C'mon, let's pick you a mount."

Sakura followed Yuuhi, excitement starting to flow through her. The blonde woman automatically steered towards the back stalls, proudly pointing out one of the horses to the pinkette.

"This is Chaba," she grinned. Sakura arched a brow and laughed.

"_Chaba?_ As in a 'tea leaf'? Really, Yuuhi?"

"Uh… hehe… yeah, that's exactly what his name means…"

Sakura examined the gelding.

Chaba was white in colour, with greyish-black spots decorating his back and rump. He had black highlights on his face and muzzle, and around his feet.

"He was a present from my dad when I turned sixteen."

"Aw man, I'm sixteen," Sakura playfully groaned.

"Well, then it's about time to get you the right horse!" Ignoring the medic's protests, Yuuhi dragged Sakura around the stables.

Colours, sizes, genders… there were so many horses that Sakura lost track of the exact number of them. In the end, however, one of them caught her interest.

A silver mare in the second last stall took a liking to her, just as she took a liking to it.

"Who're you?" Sakura quietly asked, rubbing the horse's forehead. She didn't catch the odd look that Yuuhi slanted at her.

"Um… that's Ginsen. Sakura… it's, um, not possible to ride her…"

"What? Why?"

"She's had really bad experiences with riders. It's simply _impossible _to saddle her, she won't let anybody. Plus…" Yuuhi opened the stall door and gently pushed the mare to the side, exposing a deep, long scar in Ginsen's left flank.

"Oh… that looks pretty bad…" Sakura stared longingly at Ginsen, who stared right back. That in itself was unusual for a horse—horses tended to avoid eye contact.

"What happened?"

"Nobody knows… " Yuuhi averted her gaze. In a softer tone, she said:

"Shinku, Inazuma's elder brother, was out riding Ginsen the day he died. He went out… and just never came back. Ginsen returned completely traumatized, almost dead and bleeding all over the place. We never found Shinku…"

Sakura felt her eyes soften. Without thinking about it, she reached out and hugged Yuuhi before saying quietly:

"You can't be sure that he's dead, then, right?" she smiled gently. "You said you never found his body, so maybe he's alive, ne?"

Yuuhi gave her a small smile in return, then shook herself, clearing away her morbid thoughts.

"Anyways, back to the matter on hand—Ginsen won't let another rider on her back ever since then."

A small silence descended upon the two of them. Sakura glanced back and forth between Yuuhi and Ginsen, before softly saying:

"I want to try anyways." She met the blonde woman's serious gaze with all the sincerity she could muster.

Expelling a long breath, Yuuhi turned and paced away, her face troubled. Sakura watched her leave silently, and when the other woman disappeared from view, she turned back to Ginsen.

"What happened with you?" she whispered, tickling the mare's ear. At the horse's low snort, she sighed.

"Here."

Yuuhi's voice startled Sakura. Whipping around, the pinkette gaped as she spotted the tack that the older kunoichi held out to her.

"… You mean it?" she breathed.

"Aa."

With hands that shook, Sakura took the tack from Yuuhi's outstretched arms. The blonde left to saddle her own horse while the pinkette carefully slipped into Ginsen's stall.

"Okay, girl, let's do this," she told the mare. Lifting up the bridle, she was about to slip it around the horse's neck when the Ginsen's ears plastered flat against her skull. When Sakura tried again, the mare reared violently, forcing Sakura to back away.

The commotion Ginsen created brought Yuuhi hurrying over, but the pinkette assured her that she was okay.

"I'm fine," she tried convincing her friend. The blonde eyed her critically, before reluctantly leaving her alone.

Turning back to Ginsen, Sakura released a slow breath.

"What are you thinking?" she asked, but though her question was directed at the mare, it seemed more like an inquiry to herself.

Those words snapped her out of her cluelessness.

"Of course!" she facepalmed.

Without a second thought, she split her consciousness, entering her other mind and releasing it from the confines of her body. She reached out towards the mare, and instantaneously, she was submerged in a torrent of fear.

Ginsen's blind panic shook her to the core. Who knew that an animal could feel so much fright?

Sakura tried to stem herself against the naked fear, and succeeded only partially. But she quieted the horse enough to be able to come in contact with some coherent—as coherent as a horse could get—thoughts.

"_It's okay,"_ she soothed, _"I won't hurt you… Shh…"_

Slowly, under her coaxing, Ginsen calmed. Sakura absently reached up to scratch between the mare's ears as she continued to send quiet, soothing emotions to her.

"_Why won't you let me saddle you?" _she asked gently.

Another flicker of fear passed through the mare, but gradually, a stream of memories poured through Sakura's mind, blurred by past alarm.

A scene flashed before the pinkette's Inner Eye. Great, sprawling plains. She felt as if she had four hooves and a tail. Her ears pricked eagerly in the late afternoon breeze, and she felt the weight on her back shift slightly.

She loved her rider! He always cared for her, seeing to it that she was well kept. And he let her gallop over these endless, grassy plains…

Suddenly, she felt him stiffen. Wondering what was wrong, she slowed.

"Hold up, girl," she heard him say, "I think something's comi—"

A heavy blow impacted her left flank sending her flying through the air. She screamed in panic and pain, hazily registering the weight of her rider vanishing off her back. She landed on her side, sliding across the ground and ripping open her right flank as well. Her left side throbbed terribly and she scrambled to her feet.

Yells and clanging of metal on metal terrified her and she spotted her rider just in time to see another human cleave his shoulder with a huge, serrated sword. Another man stood there, watching calmly, before turning his eyes on her.

She caught a flash of red, and she was suddenly filled with panic. She couldn't understand what was going on! She hurt all over, her rider was bleeding, and now this man with red eyes was starting to walk towards her!

It was too much. Turning tail, she fled.

She never saw her rider again.

XxXxX

Gasping, Sakura snapped her eyes open.

Feeling Ginsen's gaze on her, she offered her a weak smile.

"_I'm so sorry…" _she thought at the mare. _"And then you just came back here?"_

Feeling the mare's affirmative, she asked tentatively:

"_So why won't you let anybody ride you now?"_

She felt the prickle of fear run through Ginsen again. Sakura sighed, realizing that, even though she conversing pretty normally with her at the moment, Ginsen was still only a horse. The mare connected bad events with certain things, and grew used to it that way.

"_Something like that was pure bad luck, you know," _she told her, _"That didn't have to happen. It probably never happens to most horses in their entire life. And you were an excellent mount for him, I think."_

A small glow of pride touched the pinkette's mind. Slowly, Ginsen lowered her head to look at the bridle still in Sakura's hand. Hesitantly, the horse decided that it wouldn't _hurt _to just _try_…

"Thank you," Sakura whispered. She swiftly saddled Ginsen, keeping contact to the mare in her mind the whole while, and led her out of the stall, coming face to face with a stunned Yuuhi.

"Oh. My. Kami." The blonde woman was floored. "How did you do that?"

"I talked with her.

"You… what?"

Sakura didn't mind the disbelieving tone that Yuuhi used, and explained:

"I can communicate telepathically. No joke."

"Even animals?"

"Hai."

"… _Wow._"

Sakura started to laugh, but almost choked in surprise when her second mind abruptly started to expand at a crazily fast tempo. Gasping as her head began to ache fiercely, she only partly heard Yuuhi's shocked cry and Ginsen's alarmed concern as her legs folded, letting her pitch to the ground.

A single sentence rang through her mind, the voice unmistakable.

"_I will kill them all."_

Sakura's heart seemed to stop.

Sasuke.

XxXxX

XxXxX

**A/N**

So, that was the Christmas present to you all! Hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas, and enjoyed the chapter!

Please leave a review behind! It's a huge gift to me for X-mas!

Ja ne!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

'Nani?' – 'What?'

Itai! – Ouch!

'Honto?' – 'Really?'


	21. Chapter 21

.

.

.

.

.

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_**Summary Chapter 20**_

_Rokukan Sakura, reunited with her family in the Temple of the Sun, finds out the true origin of the Juubi. She in return informs her Clan of the threat Madara poses, and Takeshi responds immediately to the new danger._

_During the battle preparations that follow, Sakura meets some of the Naien, the Clan that runs the Sun Temple. She helps them prepare and gets to see the impressive Naien Stables. After communicating with one of the equines, her second mind is suddenly pulled out of her body without her consent directly to Sasuke._

XxXxX

_She was playing with fire every time she encountered him._

XxXxX

XxXxX

**Chapter 21**

'_What the hell?'_ Sakura flinched at the contact with Sasuke's mind. Her own second mind resisted her control, clinging stubbornly to the Uchiha's thoughts. A picture flashed before her Inner Eye—she saw what Sasuke saw.

Three dozen samurai charged forwards, weapons flaring with chakra. Sakura could feel Sasuke scanning the area, more interested in finding somebody else than paying attention to the incoming attacks. At the last possible second, he used his Sharingan to analyze their onslaught, easily cutting them down.

Horrified, Sakura yanked her second mind out of Sasuke's thoughts and forcefully pulled it back within her body. It resisted all the way, but finally quieted once it was safely secured back where it belonged.

Snapping her eyes open, Sakura gasped and sucked a breath into her starving lungs that she didn't know she'd been holding.

"Sakura!" A shout right next to her ear nearly made her jump out of her skin. Turning, she barely had enough time to brace herself before Yuuhi tackled her into a tight hug.

"What happened?" The blonde woman said frantically. "Don't you _ever _do that to me again, you hear?"

"Hai, taichou-sama," Sakura managed to gasp. As Yuuhi released her, the pinkette noticed that Ginsen was watching her with nervously twitching ears, flicking her white tail from side to side in agitation.

Her legs wobbled as she stood up, but she ignored it. She had an urgent matter at hand.

"Yuuhi, how fast do these horses run?" she asked.

"Just normal speed for horses… But if you lend them some chakra, they step up the pace according to how much you give them. Why?"

Sakura's eyes widened and she exclaimed:

"If that's the case, then I'm going to have to ask you if I can borrow Ginsen for a bit."

"_What?_ Wait, where are you going?"

The Rokukan kunoichi shook her head and quickly mounted the silver mare in a single movement. The memory of Sasuke's thoughts, almost black with hatred, pushed her to hurry and find him as quickly as possible.

"I can't explain now, gomen!" She turned Ginsen around sharply, urging the mare into a gallop towards the exit of the stables.

"Matte!" Yuuhi cried, swinging onto Chaba and charging after the pinkette.

"_Ginsen, how does this chakra transfer work?" _Sakura asked her mount. The horse replied with the feel of chakra simply flowing from her rider into her limbs. Concentrating, Sakura tried to duplicate the feeling, pouring her energy into the mare.

The effect was instantaneous. Ginsen shot forwards with a burst of speed that nearly threw Sakura off. Gasping, the pinkette gripped the saddle tighter with her legs and leaned forwards, bracing herself on the saddle horn with both hands. The new position stabilized her and she found that Ginsen's gallop had evened out into steady ups and downs, giving her a smoother ride.

Closing her eyes, Sakura tried to remember any hints of where Sasuke could be.

'_The building wasn't anything special. That type of architecture could be anywhere. I didn't see any signs or symbols carved into the walls… There were the samurai….'_

She started.

'… _Wait, samurai! Of course! There are only three countries where there are still any samurai left at all. Two of them are islands in the sea, and the last is up north. And… Sasuke was wearing a heavy travelling cloak for cold weather! It's got to be north!'_

Quickly, Sakura contacted Ginsen once more, instructing the mare to turn towards the north. Sacrificing more chakra for greater speed, the pinkette almost outran Yuuhi who was still frantically catching up to her.

"Hold it, Sakura! Just wait for a single damn second!" the blonde yelled. When the Konoha medic showed no sign of slowing, Yuuhi lost her patience and bellowed:

"ROKUKAN SAKURA, YOU SLOW DOWN THIS INSTANT AND PAY ATTENTION!"

Her cry startled the pinkette and her chakra halted for a split second, causing Ginsen to stumble as their tempo slowed to that of a normal, unaided horse. Yuuhi blew past as Chaba put on the brakes, screeching to a stop in front of Sakura.

"What in Kami's name was that?" the blonde yelled, irritated. "Why did you hurry off in such a huge rush, huh?"

"I'm sorry, Yuuhi," Sakura averted her eyes, "It's just… I have to save a friend of mine."

"Who?"

"… He's an old teammate."

"I see… but really, what's the rush?" the other kunoichi's eyes widened in sudden understanding. "Did something bad happen to your teammate?"

"A-Aa… I guess you could say that," the pinkette muttered, her eyes growing distant as she recalled Sasuke's bloodthirsty thoughts.

"How urgent is it?"

"Very. No, extremely. It is of utmost importance. Yuuhi, please—!"

The unfinished plea that left Sakura's mouth seemed to affect the blonde woman. For a few tense, silent seconds, Yuuhi considered her younger relative's words, before reluctantly saying:

"Where is he?"

Sakura blinked, surprised.

"What?"

"I asked, where is he? Where are we headed?"

Sakura nodded sharply, understanding blossoming inside her for the older woman. Gratefully, she accepted her help by saying:

"We're headed for the Country of Iron. Hurry!"

XxXxX

Finally.

He had finally found him, the man he had been looking for.

As Sasuke stared across the gap between him and Danzo, ignoring the audience of Madara and Karin, he could literally feel his blood heating up. His red eyes glared at the elder shinobi with killer intent although he tried to keep his voice even.

"You, Danzo… I have one more question before I kill you."

He was mildly surprised when the traitorous old man didn't even wait to hear him out. Instead, he rushed forward, clearly not going to go through any kind of niceties.

Fury washed through him. Sasuke could hardly believe the audacity of this man! In a heartbeat, his Sharingan spun into its Mangekyou form, calling upon his ultimate weapon.

Danzo's fist was suddenly and painfully stopped by a rippling purple shield that formed around Sasuke. Looking up, the old man found himself staring at a ghostly ribcage.

"Oh?… So this is Susano'o. Its strength is just what I expected."

Almost reflexively, a gigantic, bony hand came down right on top of Danzo, snatching him up in an inescapable grip.

"I'll ask you one more question before you die," Sasuke repeated, trying to keep his monotone voice and expressionless face intact.

"Is it true that the Council in Konoha ordered Itachi to slaughter the Uchiha Clan?"

When he received no response, he angrily shook the man in his grasp.

"Well?"

"Aa," the old man finally replied, "It is true."

Sasuke's expressionless façade broke.

Danzo was coolly and calmly admitting that he and the Konoha Council was responsible for the Uchiha Clan's massacre, and without a hint of remorse or regret!

'_I'll teach him regret!' _A dark voice growled within the young Uchiha, _'I'll teach him to mess with my Clan!'_

With that thought, tendons exploded over the bones of Susano'o, covering it with a layer of translucent flesh and creating more power than Sasuke thought possible. The ghostly skeleton roared with its master's pain and increased the strength of its hold on the old shinobi. Steadily squeezing, Sasuke relished in the sound of Danzo's ribs cracking under the pressure of Susano'o's crushing grip.

The old man didn't even blink.

Enraged, the Uchiha willed the grasp to tighten – and Danzo exploded into a mass of gore and blood.

'_Good riddance.' _But even as Sasuke formed those thoughts, he heard the Elder's voice rasp out behind him:

"Just as fast as I thought, too."

Snarling, Sasuke whipped around, attempting to smash the old man into the ground, but Danzo was too quick. He evaded each strike, each blow, and when Susano'o delivered another direct, fatal hit, he appeared behind Sasuke once more, completely unharmed.

All the while, he kept up with his lectures, talking about how Itachi ultimately failed his given mission. It only drove the young Uchiha crazier, causing said boy to dispel Susano'o and unleash Amaterasu. The old man barely managed to dodge the black flames and seemed momentarily surprised.

"Two brothers…" Danzo murmured, staring straight at Sasuke. "Siblings with the same power in eyes that are so similar… yet how differently they viewed the world with them!"

"_Enough!"_ Sasuke hardly recognized his own voice, so contorted it was with hate.

"Don't you _dare_ say another word about Itachi!"

XxXxX

Wind and ice particles stung Sakura's face as Ginsen thundered over the snowy plains. The howl of the blizzard, combined with the shriek of wind caused by speed, completely deafened her.

Turning in her saddle and almost getting blown off the mare's back, Sakura caught a glimpse of Yuuhi on Chaba behind her.

Knowing that the other woman wouldn't hear a word of what she said through the blizzard, Sakura extended her second mind to lightly push at Yuuhi's mind, alerting the older female to her presence.

"_We're getting really close to the Five Kage Summit Meeting," _the pinkette said, _"I hope your Clan isn't on bad terms with any of the five Kage."_

"_No, we're not," _Yuuhi responded, _"They don't even know we exist…"_

"_I see." _Sakura tried to stretch out her chakra to feel any nearby signatures, but the Meeting Building was stuffed full with ninja. Her chakra control was good… but not that good. Sakura wasn't skilled enough to be able to pick out a specific signature from a gigantic pool of chakra.

Closing her eyes, the medic fell back to her kekkai genkai.

"_Excuse me, Yuuhi-chan. This may feel uncomfortable…" _she apologized in advance. Before the other kunoichi could reply, Sakura let her second mind with a piece of her consciousness expand outwards. As the range increased, more and more life-forms sprang up on the radar in the pinkette's inner mind. Most of them were animals, and a few were sentries.

Focusing on Yuuhi, Sakura informed her:

"_There are three lookouts north-west of us, and two more straight ahead of us. Bear towards the east. I'll be concentrating on trying to see if I can find my teammate, so can you take the lead?"_

"_Sure thing." _The blonde woman answered, nudging Chaba towards the north-east and overtaking her partner. Ginsen fell in step behind the other horse, leaving Sakura free to focus on finding Sasuke.

'_C'mon, c'mon! Where are you?' _Sakura chanted in her mind, no longer communicating with her distant relative. She dropped her second mind over the entire building, like a net, but the only things she could detect were dying minds. Horrified, she looked into one of these minds and heard:

'…_need… medics… I-I won't last… Damn him!' _And then the mind extinguished.

Swallowing back the bile that rose in her throat at the feeling of a life vanishing, Sakura probed the next mind. This one showed significantly better findings, since the person it belonged to was a medic and was busily healing himself.

'…_this cut here, and my arm… Sheesh, damn ninjas!' _Sakura realized he was a samurai. _'We don't stand a chance against them, especially that Uchiha boy! He sliced through us as if we'd had no training at all!'_

Leaving the man's swearing and cursing, the pinkette thought:

'_Okay, so Sasuke brought down several squads of samurai. Not surprising, sadly. But where is he?'_

She was browsing through the minds of the injured warriors when her second mind suddenly started pulling in one direction again.

'_Nani?' _she gasped as she resisted the strong pull. _'This is just like last time!'_ she remembered, thinking of the time in the Naien Stables.

Frantically trying to regain control of her wildly fluctuating second mind, she felt a sharp sensation run through both minds, setting her entire body on fire. She shrieked, drawing Yuuhi's attention to her.

"Sakura? Daijoubu?" the blonde kunoichi shouted at the top of her lungs, barely audible over the howl of the wind.

"Hai!" she yelled back, likewise pushing her voice to its limit. "Yuuhi, to the west, past the blizzard! Quick, we have got to hurry!"

Nodding, the other woman released even more chakra into her mount, and Chaba shot ahead as if his tail had been singed by fire. Sakura also increased the flow of energy, and Ginsen plunged forward with a burst of speed.

The pinkette took a deep breath – and then let her struggling second mind loose. If her theories were correct, then her alternative mind would lead her straight to where they needed to go. She had formed this hypothesis since the feeling that had flashed through her both times before was Sasuke's emotional state.

'_I don't know why, but my second mind seems to be drawn to him every time he's sinking into his bloodlust and hatred," _she concluded._ 'Why? It doesn't make any sense!'_

In any case, the two kunoichi were rapidly nearing Sasuke, as far as she could tell. And the closer they came, the harder Sakura's mind tugged, leading her out of the snow storm and high up into the Northern Mountains.

XxXxX

Every part of his body hurt. His eyes. His chest. Susano'o and Amaterasu took a lot out of him.

His rational part screamed at him to stop, to nurse his wounded body, but the urge was quickly overcome by the smothering shadow of darkness that seeped through him like poison.

Hate. Anger. Frustration. Pain. Sasuke could hardly tell the emotions apart; they were all turning into a mixed chaos of black desire.

_He wanted Danzo dead! _And he was _so close!_

If only Karin hadn't gotten in the way! Sasuke gritted his teeth, indecision tearing him apart inside. Memories of how often the red haired kunoichi had helped him and saved his life warred with the senseless tide of hatred.

As he teetered on the brink of deciding, he made the mistake of looking up. His gaze met the Sharingan eye of Uchiha Shisui that the old man had implanted into his right socket. Just like that, his control snapped and his vision turned red. Like a flood, a tsunami, anger overpowered any remaining rational thoughts, reducing him to a creature without reason. His body moved without conscious permission, raising a chidori laden arm to lunge forward, impaling both ally and enemy with a sickening screech.

The melodic chirping of the chidori was drowned out by Karin's piercing shriek. Her mouth, only moments ago pleading his name, fell slack as blood began to flow up her throat and over her lips.

Behind her, Danzo's eyes widened. He couldn't believe this! How could he? How could the boy throw aside the one who had healed him only moments ago? Trying to form words but finding that he was only gurgling up blood, Danzo realized too late that he had underestimated the coldness in Uchiha Sasuke's heart.

The knowledge that he had lost was enough to turn his knees into jelly. Falling to the ground with a harsh _thud_, Danzo reflected that he had failed. _Again._

The old man hardly noticed as the red haired kunoichi fell to her side in front of him. All he could think about was how Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, had sacrificed his life to save Konohagakure.

'_It's my turn now!'_

Using sheer willpower, Danzo straightened his upper body, still kneeling, but proudly raising his head to stare at Madara, who had come down to stand before him in the meantime.

"For the sake of the ninja world…" the Sharingan-stealer proclaimed, his determination lending him a last burst of strength, "For the sake of the Hidden Leaf… _I will not let you both live!"_

With those final words, he unleashed the seals covering his body.

Madara's single visible eye widened as he stiffened, realizing:

'_This is the Reverse Tetragram Sealing Jutsu!'_

"Sasuke!" he called, alerting the younger Uchiha, "Get away from Danzo!"

As the boy obeyed, Madara grimly eyed Danzo for the last time before he sank into the earth, Zetsu-style.

'_Damn you, Danzo! Shisui's eye is beyond my reach now.'_

XxXxX

Madara slowly reappeared again, moving to stand beside Sasuke as the younger Uchiha gazed blankly at Danzo's still form.

"Well… It seems that you have accomplished the first step of your goal," the masked man remarked. He was not at all surprised when Sasuke didn't reply.

"I'm going." Turning, Madara took a step or two before calling over his shoulder:

"Oh, and Sasuke?" The boy's head inclined slightly towards him. "Take care of that woman. She's useless now." And with that, the elder Uchiha vanished in a spiralling vortex.

Silence filled the air after Madara teleported away. Karin cracked open an eye, her breath stinging and gurgling up her throat.

"S-Sasu…ke…" she choked. The full shock of betrayal crashed down on her then, rattling her to her very core. Her voice shook like crazy as she rasped:

"How… c-could you…?"

A shadow fell over her as Sasuke moved a few steps closer. Karin craned her neck, trying to catch a glimpse of his face, but the sun behind his back blinded her and she couldn't see a thing. As a last resource, she probed outward with her senses.

A blast of icy, black chakra slammed into her with the force of the chidori that he had impaled her with. She shuddered violently, her mouth forming inaudible words.

'_This… is Sasuke?'_ she thought incredulously, _'It's completely different…! I don't… I can't recognize him anymore… This isn't the Sasuke I met so long ago…'_

**Flashback**

The bear roared, threateningly raising its paw to deal the fatal blow. Karin screamed, desperately scrabbling backwards, lifting an arm in a pathetic form of defence.

She closed her eyes, knowing that she was going to die.

But suddenly, the bear's bellow stopped mid-roar. She froze for a second longer, unsure what to make of this change before peeking up hesitantly.

The bear was dead.

Scrambling upright, amazement and relief washing through her, she looked up to meet the eyes of her rescuer.

"Th-Thanks…" she whispered.

"Hn." Her saviour did nothing but smirk at her.

**End of Flashback**

"Stop…" the redhead managed to say. Terror bled into her mind when he didn't react. "Stop! Sasuke! Sto—"

"_**Sasuke!"**_

The Uchiha immediately snapped around at the sound of his name being cracked through the air like a whip from behind him. Karin strained to see beyond his broad frame, the sun's rays dazzling her for moment before her vision cleared. She watched as the boy in front of her stiffened, every muscle in his body tensing.

Sasuke couldn't believe his eyes.

A grey horse with a long, flowing mane and tail snorted and pranced on the other side of the bridge. A long scar, white against its dark silver coat, stood out in stark contrast along its flank. The figure on its back, distinctly female, sat straight and proud, the hood of her billowing cloak thrown back to reveal pink locks that glowed crimson and gold in the setting sun behind her.

'_Sakura…'_

XxXxX

Sakura was furious beyond words.

'_How can he just go through teammates like this?' _she thought angrily, _'How can he treat us all like trash?'_

"_**Sasuke!"**_ she roared, adopting a tone very like her shishou's.

She watched as he whipped around, falling into a ready stance… before his eyes widened slightly at her.

A clatter of hooves behind her signalled Yuuhi's arrival as Chaba blew to a stop next to her. The blonde kunoichi tilted her head in confusion, surveying the destroyed bridge… and the puddles of blood. Her gaze travelled further… until her eyes landed on Sasuke.

"Sakura?" she inquired. The pinkette didn't turn, but a slight nod of her head indicated that she was listening. Yuuhi continued to stare across the gap in the bridge as she asked:

"Is the kunoichi your teammate?"

'_Oh…' _Sakura realized, _'I told Yuuhi that my teammate's in danger, but… she doesn't know about this…'_

"Yuuhi," she said quietly, bitterly, "I mentioned it before… my teammate is a 'he'."

The blonde's eyes widened as she refocused her attention on the Uchiha. Sakura could almost hear the gears turning in her relative's head until it clicked.

"Kami-sama," Yuuhi murmured at last, "A nuke-nin…"

"And an Akatsuki," the pinkette added bitterly. Subconsciously, she urged Ginsen forward and the mare obeyed, nearing the edge of their bridge side.

"Sakura!" Yuuhi reached out and grabbed her arm, dragging her back slightly. Lowering her voice to whisper harshly at the medic, she said:

"You can't just waltz in and talk to him! He's crazy!"

"_He_ is my _teammat_e!" Sakura whispered back hotly.

"Will you shut up?" the blonde retorted, "I am a Naien, dammit! I can see his personality laid out like a book, and believe me, it's completely crazy!"

"I don't care!" her young relative shot back, "Personality can change! He wasn't always berserk, and he sure as hell can change back!"

Yuuhi didn't relent; her grip tightened on Sakura's arm. She gave her a small shake and hissed:

"Listen to me! _He will kill you_, okay? I can see he's perfectly capable of doing that!"

The pinkette gazed almost longingly over the gap. Sasuke hadn't moved an inch, still warily watching them. She noticed that his Sharingan was off.

"He's exhausted," she whispered, more to herself than to the other kunoichi.

"Yuuhi, I have to talk to him."

The blonde regarded her for a moment… before reluctantly releasing her.

"Fine. But leave the horses here."

Nodding, Sakura dismounted, Yuuhi copying her, and together they leapt over the yawning hole between the two ends of the bridge. Straightening, the pinkette walked forward determinedly. Sasuke was family to her, and he was in dire need of a kick to the ass.

XxXxX

Sasuke tensed up further when a new arrival entered the scene. He memorized her with wary eyes – blonde hair corkscrewing to her waist and riding a dappled horse. She argued hotly with Sakura, even going so far as grabbing her arm and restraining her. But it seemed that the pinkette won, and they both swung off of their mounts and jumped over the gap.

Sakura approached him with purposeful steps, stopping a respectful distance away. Her green eyes blazed as she said:

"Sasuke, _what_ the _hell_ are you doing?"

He didn't find it necessary to answer her, running his eyes over her form. She was wearing that black cloak again with the strange symbols, and her posture indicated that she was fully healed from the beating Madara had given her.

But he didn't feel anything. No relief, no satisfaction that his earlier handiwork of caring for her had worked… nothing.

All he could think about was the high that killing Danzo had given him, and as his thoughts turned down a darker path, he found himself noting that she was a _Konoha _kunoichi.

Sakura, in the meantime, had discovered the corpse of the ANBU Root leader. Shock flickered through her as she realized:

'_Sasuke… killed Danzo?' _

The deed would not have been easy at all – Danzo was no weak opponent. Plus, the elderly man had been pushed to his very limits, fighting for his life…

'… _Just how strong has Sasuke become?'_

Fear prickled at her, but she steeled herself, forcing herself to wrap the shreds of calm around herself tighter. She didn't expect a reply from him to her earlier question and received none.

Running her eyes over him, she found herself looking at those familiar features. Ones that she used to see every day. They were weighed down by exhaustion, but other than that, _absolutely nothing._

Her heart ached.

"I can at least understand the situation about Danzo," she found herself saying, "But… Karin…? Was that really necessary?"

She didn't really think he'd answer her, but the furious spark in his eyes changed her mind. He scoffed, the sound rasping and careless, and said:

"She was weak and got in the way." Emerald eyes widened in disbelief. That was his reason? She'd thought that Karin had changed sides or something for him to strike her down. Obviously, she was mistaken.

"Sasuke…" she tried persuasion, "You've killed Danzo now. He was the one who organized everything – the other two Elders simply went along. You don't have to punish them for stupidity. You've finished what you've set out to do; will you consider stopping now?"

Something flickered behind those two midnight pools, but they vanished so quickly she wasn't sure if she'd imagined it. Praying that she wasn't pushing him to far, she tried to continue:

"You still have time. Konoha—"

"—is of no value in my eyes," he interrupted viciously, "They are lower than trash. They betrayed the only Clan that ever tried to help them."

Sakura coughed gently, breaking the stream of hateful words.

"_Danzo _betrayed your Clan, Sasuke. _Danzo. _Danzo and… and Madara."

The name seemed to strike a chord in the Uchiha, and he leaned his head back at a haughty angle, looking at her with contempt.

"Do you think I'm operating under that man?" he said, arrogance saturating his tone, "He can't control me. Nobody can. I do not intend to be used by anybody or anything, _Sa-ku-ra."_

The way he said her name was plainly mocking her. Gripping her temper tightly to keep herself from screaming and lunging at him for his completely impossible and arrogant words, the pinkette counted to ten in her head, her mind racing.

'_Yuuhi was right,' _she realized with sickening certainty, _'he's beyond reason now.'_

Swallowing past the lump that had formed in her throat, she reached out and contacted the blonde kunoichi who had silently stood behind her all this time.

"_I can't help him," _she told her sadly, her pain spiralling through her companion, _"He won't stop this madness."_

Yuuhi didn't answer, instead she gazed at the pinkette with sympathetic eyes. Through the connection, she felt the final decision solidify in Sakura's mind.

Stepping forward, she gently grasped the younger kunoichi's arm, ignoring the way Sasuke's tense eyes snapped towards her with her sudden movement.

"Do what you must."

Yuuhi's words, spoken with understanding, too quiet for Sasuke to hear, hardened the petite girl's resolve. Meeting those black eyes again, she said:

"Since you are not coming back to Konoha… let me go with you."

Both of his eyebrows lifted a fraction as he considered her words for a few tense, silent moments. When he spoke, his voice came out dark and foreboding.

"I will destroy Konoha." His tone held a clear warning in it. Sakura nodded mutely, not trusting her voice.

"And I will kill everybody you know there."

Another terse nod.

He smirked then, a twisted and cold version of his usual smirk, and commanded:

"If you are sure, then prove it. Kill her."

At first, Sakura thought with alarm that he meant Yuuhi, but then she saw him tilt his chin at the red-haired kunoichi lying broken and battered on the ground. Her heart lurched in her chest and she barely managed to tamp down the revulsion that threatened to rise.

Without saying any further words, she moved forwards towards Karin. As she passed by Sasuke, she could almost feel the menace and danger he now effortlessly radiated.

Upon reaching her target, she looked at Karin's blood-spattered face. A few clear tracks ran down her cheeks from where tears had fallen.

Sakura didn't realize she had been hesitating until his deep, taunting voice reached her ears:

"What, Sakura? Are you afraid to kill?" She paused for a second, turning that question around and around, before finally admitting:

'_Yes. Yes, Sasuke, I am afraid to kill.'_

But this task had to be done. Sasuke had to be stopped. Closing her eyes, she struggled against the part of her that screamed at her to stop and readied herself for a fight.

She was so caught up in her conflicting thoughts that she nearly jumped out of her skin when a crash followed by Yuuhi's agonized cry reached her ears. Whipping around, her wide green eyes took in the sight behind her in a flash.

Her blonde companion was collapsed in a heap at the base of a tall tree. She seemed dazed, her hazy gaze wide with horror. But the majority of Sakura's mind was preoccupied with the fact that Sasuke was right behind her, his hand blazing with a chidori, poised to stab her straight through the heart.

"NO!"

She braced herself for the blow that would surely end her life on the spot, but a green and gray blur intercepted the fatal strike with a second, crackling chidori.

Sakura felt her knees go weak and she faltered:

"K-Ka… Kakashi-sensei!"

She was saved… for the moment.

XxXxX

**A/N— PLEASE READ!**

No, I am not abandoning this story, if that's what you think. I just wanted to say a few very important things.

Firstly… _**Thank you. **_If you are reading this Author's Note, then you have successfully managed to keep up with this crazy story with its crazy writer and its crazy update schedule. I cannot even begin to say how sorry I am for leaving you guys hanging for so long.

Secondly, I know excuses won't grant me pardon, but I still want to explain why I've been neglecting this story for so long. I might not be the first person to go through the drama of being a teenager, but it's still quite taxing on energy, time, and peace anyways. It has been a hectic few months, what with the everyday uproar in high school, but I am pleased to inform you that I have survived the onslaught (just if you haven't noticed yet) with only a slight trauma regarding the male species.

…

Wait, did that sound weird? Oh, whatever… ^^

Thirdly, I have received requests for a character list on who plays what role in Sakura's new, huge family, and I plan to make one as soon as possible. We still have to meet the Yumihari Clan, and after that, I believe I'll get to work on the list.

And fourthly… Has my writing gotten worse? I'm worried that the long break has damaged my writing style… Please, please, please tell me what you think! The story will veer more and more from the canon plot – the observant reader will already notice that this confrontation is different from the actual manga. Am I taking the change slow enough, do you think?

Again, thank you for sticking to this story; I will try not to make you wait too long for the next chapter. Reviewers… I love you all _so damn much! _The reviews that trickled into my inbox _months _after I last updated encouraged me to get my sorry butt to the computer and revive those plot bunnies! Thank you!

EbonyEye

XxXxX

Gomen! – Sorry!

Matte! – Wait!

Daijoubu? – Are you alright?

Nani? – What?


	22. Chapter 22

.

.

.

.

.

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_**Summary Chapter 21**_

_After learning of Uchiha Sasuke's whereabouts, Rokukan Sakura makes her way to the Country of Iron. Naien Yuuhi, her distant relative, accompanies her. Once arrived, they find Danzo dead and Karin struck down by Sasuke, who stands above her weakening body with Madara nowhere in sight. Yuuhi, who has the ability to read personalities, warns Sakura that the young Uchiha is insane. Sakura at first does not want to believe her, but after observing how cold her former teammate had become, she decides to kill him by tricking him into believing she'd help him crush Konoha. However, Sasuke sees through her ruse and almost stabs her in the back with a chidori. Hatake Kakashi arrives and saves her in the nick of time._

XxXxX

**A/N**

I will explain my prolonged absence in the A/N below. For now, please enjoy!

XxXxX

_He didn't welcome help and therefore, she was powerless to step in._

XxXxX

XxXxX

**Chapter 22**

Her heart slammed against her ribs, adrenaline coursing freely through her veins.

_'Th-that was just too close…' _she faltered as she stared at Kakashi's back, numb with shock. Eyes frozen and wide, she stood there like an imbecile, unable to process what had happened. She couldn't believe it! He had tried to kill her!

Her mind spun furiously through the recent memories – how she had saved him, and how he had saved her in return. He had cared for her, healed her. Granted, he hadn't swooped in as a knight in shining armor for her, but the smallest gesture of kindness from the Uchiha could be interpreted as a ground-breaking declaration of goodwill.

And now…

She couldn't stop staring at him. From somewhere far away, a disjointed part of mind noted Kakashi's urgent calls directed towards her to take Karin and run. But she was unable to look away from those dark, dark eyes.

As she stood rooted to the spot, Kakashi turned his attention towards his wayward former student. His visible eye narrowed as he spoke up sternly:

"Sasuke. I am not the type who likes to repeat himself, but I will say it one more time and you'd better listen up."

Disdain colored Sasuke's shadowed irises, but he tilted his head back in some form of haughty consent. Seeing this, Kakashi plowed ahead.

"Don't go and let yourself be consumed by revenge, Sasuke."  
His tone was serious and definitely not amusing in his opinion, but it seemed as if he'd been mistaken. Across from him, a small, harsh sound welled up. Unsure what to make of it, Kakashi stared in confusion. The sound repeated itself, bubbling up and breaking out into great whoops of laughter.

Uchiha Sasuke was laughing. Head lolling loosely from a boneless neck, foam gathering at the corners of his grinning mouth, and eyes squeezed shut with dark mirth as tears of blood dripped in a ceaseless tide down his left cheek, he made the very picture of a psychopath.

Seeing him like this, acting with such abandon, such contempt… Sakura quivered to her very core. Hardly remembering how to move her feet, she stumbled forwards a step and whispered:

"Kakashi-sensei…"

"Aa, I know," the Copy-nin responded, voice heavy. Together, they watched as Sasuke gradually calmed himself, crazy eyes flickering around to rest on them once again.

"Kakashi," the young Uchiha smiled joylessly, "I don't like repeating myself either. But I'll tell you something I already told you long ago."

His smile widened into a teeth-baring grimace.

"Don't act as if you were still my teacher, you senile old man!" he bellowed, lunging forward. His hand came up, electricity flaring to life as he streaked towards them with unreal speed.

"Sakura, go!" The white-haired shinobi yelled, his own hand bursting into forks and rails of lightning.

Sakura didn't waste any time, spinning on her heel and hefting the limp redhead behind her. Leaping out of the way just as the two Raiton users clashed violently, she landed some distance away, and, doing her best to ignore the explosions and tremors, got to work.

Healing Karin was not a particularly difficult task for her, but as her hands shook and her concentration wavered, she found herself unable to perform the process at the speed she normally was capable of.

A small gust of wind startled her. Whipping around, she stared wildly into concerned blue eyes before recognizing who had come to join her.

"Are you ok?" Yuuhi asked softly, her face worried.

"I'm fine." Sakura hardly recognized the strangled voice that spoke the exact opposite of what she was feeling. "What about you? Did he hurt you?"

The blonde shook her head mutely.

"Good," Sakura whispered, more to herself than to her distant cousin. Unbidden, moisture started to collect at the corners of her eyes. She didn't bother wiping them away, preferring to keep both hands in position, hovering and healing over Karin.

Behind her, Kakashi and Sasuke flew at each other, met, clashed, and sprang back apart repeatedly, their forms blurring out of the visible spectrum. The Copy-nin could see that his former student was exhausted, and, underestimating Sasuke's reflexes, undertook a risky maneuver that exposed his side for a split second.

Instantly, the young Uchiha was on him, hauling back to land a painfully powerful kick to his old sensei's side, sending him flying off the bridge.

"Kakashi!" Sakura shrieked, shocked, as she saw the Copy-nin disappear beyond the rim of the bridge. She stood, her knees shaking, and started to hurry to the edge. Yuuhi caught her arm as she made to move, and spoke urgently:

"Don't, he told you not to interfere!"

"I don't care! Sasuke will kill him!" _'Or he'll kill Sasuke!' _A small voice in her mind thought desperately. Yanking her arm loose she spared a single glance at the newly healed redhead, ordering: "Stay put, you're still injured pretty badly," before racing off down the side of the bridge.

As she neared the fighting duo, she noticed with alarm that Sasuke had bent over nearly double, clutching his eyes. Her heart clenched as he winced in obvious pain.

_'He's using his Mangekyou too much… Stop, Sasuke!'_

The sight of Sasuke in such a vulnerable position… A dark thought crossed her mind.

If she killed him there… If she killed him just as she had intended to minutes ago… It would all be over. Konoha and Naruto would be out of danger, her precious people wouldn't be hurt… but also…

She would have killed the person she loved.

The idea sent a wave of disgust and self-loathing flooding through her. Her entire being rebelled against the mere thought… but… If it would really save her home village, wouldn't it be the right thing to do?

From somewhere in the very back of her mind, the memory of a heavy, sorrowful voice drifted through her thoughts.

"_Would it be right if I sacrificed innocent lives just for my brother? It would be wrong, and if he were in the right state of mind, he would want me to stop him. That I know; he was intelligent and believed strongly in doing what was good and right."_

Azami. Of course, how could she have forgotten this story? Sakura remembered the agonized, faraway look in her cousin's eyes as she recounted the gory details of her brother's death.

And now, she understood exactly how Azami had felt. How could she have struck down a loved one for the sake of all the other people around her? It was a mindboggling concept, but… There was no other way.

As Sakura drowned in despair, mind going in circles over and over again, desperately trying to convince herself that she had a duty to fulfill, a voice she had not heard for a long time blasted through her mind's ear.

_'SAKURA HARUNO, DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP ON SASUKE!'_

Time seemed to stop for Sakura as her body froze and she lost control over her chakra. Unable to direct the flow of her energy, she plummeted into the water amidst a great splash and sank down several dozen feet. Yet she couldn't bring herself to care, because the figure that stepped before her mind's eye, hair and eyes flaming furiously, demanded her entire focus for a moment.

_'Kami-sama,' _she thought, dazed.

_'My Inner has returned.'_

XxXxX

The black plains of her mind seemed endless. Sakura stood there, staring in sheer disbelief at an exact copy of herself. Her double stomped towards her, her face drawn in a ferocious scowl, as she growled:

_"Well? How do you want to explain yourself?"_

"Explain myself?" Sakura echoed, incredulous, "Why would I need to do that? And why am I here?"

Her copy snorted inelegantly, rolling her eyes.

_"You sure are an idiot, Sakura," _she tossed at her, _"How about you start by looking at yourself."_

Jumping in surprise, Sakura turned her gaze downwards and yelped, hardly containing her revulsion at what she saw.

Black, oozing color had claimed her hands and wrists, pulsing ever so slightly up her forearms. Her feet and ankles, too. Stretching her hands out as far away from herself as possible, she cried in alarm:

"What is this?!"

The other Sakura barked a short laugh before turning serious, her face growing white and intent as she enunciated seriously:

_"That is the stranger you are becoming, baka. Do you seriously expect to remain the same if you change your very self?"_

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sakura asked back, starting to get angry. What was with all these riddles?

Her double sighed and asked in a bored tone:

_"Sakura, do you remember who I am?"_

"Yes…" the pinkette responded slowly, tone wary, "You're my Inner."

_"Exactly. And do you remember how I looked in the beginning?"_

A dreadful thought dawned on Sakura as she returned her gaze to her hands.

"You… I…"

_"I see you've gotten it,"_ Inner Sakura spoke steadily, _"Since your birth, I was different in personality and attitude. I was your 'bad side'," _she emphasized, raising hands to make quotation marks in the air, _"Of course, I never saw it that way because, hey, what does it matter to me if I had some bad qualities? Anyways, what I mean to say is that there is only __**ONE**__ Haruno Sakura, and by being like you, I __**became **__you. Now, I am you, and you were me up to a moment ago, at least." _Emerald clashed with emerald as Sakura's double met her gaze seriously.

_"Do you understand? You are not being yourself right now. __**YOU**__ will turn into the Inner if you continue thinking like such a melodramatic bitch, girl."_

Her unyielding expression softened somewhat as she took a step back.

_"Think about who you are, Sakura," _her voice trailed off, fading as Sakura remained frozen in place.

"Who I am…" she repeated numbly. "Who… Who am I?"

XxXxX

A sharp jolt shocked her, and she saw the black plains of her mind stretch and tear as she was jerked back into the outside world. Coughing, she instinctively tried taking a breath, but chocked as water rushed through her nose and lungs.

_'Shit!' _she thought, wildly trying to discern where the surface was. But whichever way she turned, she could only see water. Panic rose in her throat as she flailed helplessly, bubbles whirling around her in a chaotic dance.

Out of nowhere, an arm hooked under her stomach and tugged at her, hard. She felt herself being towed through the water, breaking the surface and giving her access to the much needed air. Gasping, she sucked in a great lungful, which she immediately put to use in coughing to rid the liquid from her airways.

"Sakura!" a feminine voice cried worriedly. A splash next to her and her mysterious savior alerted her to the arrival of another person. "Are you ok?"

Blinking groggily, the pinkette took in long blonde locks and wide blue eyes.

"Yuuhi?" she panted, "What…?"

"You suddenly lost your footing and fell into the water," her distant relative explained quickly, "And then, you just weren't surfacing! What happened, Sakura?"

"I…" she shook her head, confused, "It's complicated…" As she tilted her head to the side, she noticed that her savior had yet to put her down.

"Who…?" her eyes widened in recognition. Sunshine hair, tanned skin, eyes as blue as a cloudless sky…

"… Naruto," she breathed, dumbfounded. "You're here."

The Number One Surprise Ninja, the self-declared Hokage, grinned at her cheekily.

"Yep, I'm here, Sakura-chan!" he proclaimed firmly, "The one and only Uzumaki Naruto, ne?" She giggled slightly as he smiled widely, although, at closer inspection, she could see the tense fear behind those azure irises. A shadow crossed his face as he gently set her down, his gaze turning to face the front as he straightened back up.

"Sasuke," he muttered quietly.

A reckless smirk tilted the young Uchiha's lips as he rocked back on his heels, hand on the hilt of his Kusanagi.

"Another one, hn? They just keep popping up, one at the time."

"Sasuke," Naruto repeated, raising his voice, fury just barely contained. "What are you doing? We're all part of Team 7!"

"Team 7?" Sasuke echoed blankly, "I'm no longer a member of all that. Have you forgotten, Naruto?"

The two males stared each other down, measuring each other carefully. Naruto's gaze dropped as he mumbled quietly:

"You really are different, Sasuke…"

The Uchiha didn't deign this important enough to respond to, instead settling on staring indifferently with those hard, black eyes.

Sakura blinked rapidly, banishing the remains of her unwilling bath and that strange encounter she'd had with her once-Inner. As she watched the two boys sizing each other up, she heard Kakashi mutter lowly:  
"Naruto, take Sakura and… her friend and get out of here. I'll handle this alone."

"No way!" Naruto paused, mouth hanging open in surprise as his intended words were stolen from his tongue. Swiveling on his heel, he stared over his shoulder at Sakura. Realizing that the protest had come from her, she quickly composed herself and started again.

"Kakashi-sensei, don't do this! You can't!"

"I can and will, Sakura," the Copy-nin retaliated firmly. "It's my duty as his former teacher."

"You can't be serious…" she whispered, stricken. Her gaze flickered to meet piercing onyx irises as she ground out again, vehemently:

"You can't kill him, Kakashi!"

The statement echoed across the waters, thundering as loudly as if she'd bellowed at the top of her lungs. Nobody dared move, the seriousness of the situation fully settling. No pretty words danced around the subject: Sasuke was going to be killed.

"Hn."

The single grunt of annoyance floated across the expanse between them. Sakura blinked in surprise as a spark flared to life in Sasuke's dark eyes.

"You speak as if he could do such a thing… Sa-ku-ra."

Her jaw dropped. How dare he use such an arrogant tone?

"Listen to me, you little shit," she began furiously, only to feel a hand come to rest on her shoulder. Looking back, she spotted Yuuhi, who had been silent up to that moment.

"Let it go, cousin," the Naien said softly, "I thought you'd given up on him."

Emerald eyes slid shut as she contemplated how to answer the unspoken question.

"No," she declared, eyes still closed. "There has got to be way. Sasuke," she opened her eyes, directing her words at him, "You won't kill us, and you won't be killed by us either. There has to be a different way!"

The young Uchiha scoffed and started to speak when a whirring noise interrupted him. His back stiffened as he registered the familiar and unwanted chakra.

"Madara," he growled at the figure that appeared at his side. "Leave."

"Not so fast, Sasuke-kun," the masked man spoke evenly, his crimson eye observing the party opposite of them. "I have business with them just as much as you do."

Confused, Sasuke glanced at his opponents – only to realize that Sakura had gone rigid, eyes wide and fearful.

And then he remembered.

Hadn't Madara attacked her before, at the base? He had beaten her to a pulp… Memories raced by as he remembered more and more of the recent events, memories that he had been repressing during the high of the battle with Danzo.

His eyes returned to Sakura, who was trembling slightly.

Exactly what did the elder Uchiha want from her?

Back with Yuuhi, Sakura swallowed hard. She could feel Madara's malicious chakra curling around her, seeking to intimidate her into submission. Grinding her teeth together in frustration, she squared her shoulders and stared straight back into his malevolent eye.

Seemingly amused, the masked man chuckled and called:

"Rokukan-san, a pleasure to meet you again."

"Pleasure's mine, asshole."

"Sakura!" Yuuhi gasped, appalled. The pinkette shrugged, ignoring her distant cousin's disapproval as well as the questioning and bewildered stares from her teammates.

"I'll explain everything later," she muttered, already feeling the headache she was bound to have soon. Taking a step forward, she projected her voice across the distance.

"You obviously can't stand losing a fight, Madara. Got a new mask, did you?"

The elder Uchiha tensed slightly at that and drawled darkly:

"You'll pay for all of this, bitch."

In a flash, he disappeared. Alarm spread through Sakura as she sensed his chakra beginning to spiral in a different spot. Spinning around, she shouted a warning.

"Behind us!"

She dodged to the side, pulling Yuuhi along with her, as Naruto and Kakashi leapt forward. The spot where they had been first exploded with the pure force of Madara's emerging chakra, then imploded as Sasuke, who had been waiting for an opening, attacked from underwater, bursting out of the surface.

Two battles erupted within an instant. Sasuke, swallowed up by the purple shield of Susano'o, proceeded to ruthlessly batter at Kakashi and Naruto. Arrow after arrow he fired, his aim diminished, but the strength behind each shot increased to the point that Kakashi found himself forced to let his Sharingan bleed into the Mangekyou.

Sasuke spotted the change, of course, and rage contorted his handsome face.

"I never thought a non-Uchiha could handle the Mangekyou," he sneered disdainfully, "But behold the true power of the Uchiha!"

Susano'o howled and reared back, muscle and flesh twisting and wrapping around the skeletal frame. With a roar, the young Uchiha brought a ghostly arm down in a devastating blow.

Sakura, however, was in a completely different boat.

"Yuuhi, stay back!" she shouted above the shrieking winds of Madara's turbulent energy. She was shocked that the masked man could create such a cyclone just by the raw force of his chakra, without any jutsu or such thing involved. Curling her hand into a fist, she forced her minds to merge, her senses sending a flood of enhanced sensations to her brain, overwhelming her for a moment. As soon as she could think again, she flared her consciousness out to encompass the whole area. She sought out the minds of Yuuhi, Naruto, Kakashi, and yes, Sasuke too, and, wrapping her own thoughts around them protectively, launched herself with both mind and body at the man she hated more than she'd ever thought she could hate someone.

Her mind burned red hot, sending several of Madara's multiple minds flying just by slamming into them. She curled and twisted around the swarm of minds, winding in and out as she fended off the tide of invading thoughts. On the outside, she aimed a kick at the elder Uchiha, missing and landing a destructive blow to one of the supporting pillars of the bridge. She paid no heed to the ear-splitting havoc, even as the remainder of the bridge slowly started to collapse inwards on itself. She dodged falling blocks of stone, cursing the amount of distraction as one of Madara's minds snaked around and seized a corner of her memories.

Grabbing at the other side, Sakura tugged savagely in the opposite direction, stretching the enemy mind so thin that it snapped in two. More and more minds just kept popping up, diving at her and adding to the confusion of the fray.

Standing at the sidelines, Yuuhi yelped in shock.

Her head felt… full. Something warm and gentle was pushing insistently at her mind. Glancing over at the other three people involved in their own fight, she saw them pausing as well. Were they feeling this sensation too?

And suddenly, with a small tug, she felt herself borne along a torrent of thoughts.

_'—left, and – whoa! Over there! And here! Get off of me! SHANNARO!'_

Her eyes widened. She recognized the voice; she had even felt this contact before when riding through the snowstorm with her pink-haired relative.

"Sakura!" she breathed in amazement.

Kakashi and Naruto halted, the elder shinobi's face showing shock, while the younger one broke out in a grin.

"She's doing it again! Sakura-chan's doing her awesome technique!" the blonde crowed victoriously. "Kaka-sensei, this is what she did that other time; I can hear her in my head!"

The silver-haired man shook his head slowly in awe, both eyes wide as he stared at the young kunoichi. How much had she grown during her relatively short time among her real family?

Luckily for both Naruto and Kakashi, Sasuke had frozen mid-attack just like they had. He had gone through the experience of having Sakura speak to him in his mind, but this time…

His dark eyes swept over her fighting form.

She was probably too distracted to completely regulate the contact, and thus she felt so _close_. Her thoughts streamed through his head as if they were his own, and he could feel how her body dodged, ducked, kicked and punched. He suppressed a wince as he felt Madara cut her upper arm with a spray of blood; it just felt so _real_ in his own body. The strange sensation of having healing chakra race through her body to gather at the wounded area was entirely new to him – he had never performed such an effortless healing jutsu on himself.

_'Sakura…'_

A scowl marred his perfect features.

He'd forgotten how exceedingly confusing and distracting she was. How annoying.

Glancing at Naruto and Kakashi, he scoffed inwardly at their open mouths and incredulous expression. They had both turned away from him and were gaping at their teammate. Tch. How foolish. Weren't they supposed to already know her capabilities?

His dark eyes returned to Sakura, his scowl deepening.

As her thoughts echoed through his head, he found it increasingly difficult to hold onto Susano'o. She had provided enough distraction to completely unbalance his anger, and fury gave way to immeasurable fatigue. His muscles ached, his eyes ached, his bones ached, everything just ached to the point where his knees began to tremble. Irritated, he steadied himself, but the movement was the last straw.

Susano'o released a short bellow before its frame collapsed inwards on itself, hissing and spluttering as the ephemeral material dispersed into thin air. The sudden loss of his jutsu caused Sasuke to lurch and fall to his knees, gasping. Chest heaving, he stared wide eyed down unseeingly, putting all his concentration into not letting himself fall beneath the surface of the water.

The realization hit him like a stinging slap to the face.

He was almost at his limit.

A small sound of surprise caused his head to snap up. Mouth thinning into a white line, he watched Naruto, who had turned to look at him, blink rapidly in shock. The blonde had never expected to see his former teammate give such a show of vulnerability.

With a muttered curse, the young Uchiha staggered to his feet. He met those worried, melancholic blue eyes and realized his Sharingan had disengaged as well.

_'Am I really so tired?' _he wondered. He hadn't known that his rage had sustained him so long. How could he have sunken so deep into hate that he hadn't even felt his own body anymore?

The blind exhilaration he had harbored ever since killing Danzo diffused, leaving confusion and not a small amount of anger behind.

But anger at what? He did not know. A growl escaped his lips.

He didn't want to think anymore! He had thought, and thought, and thought… And he was just _sick_ and _tired_ of it! He knew his goal, he knew what he wanted, and he would damn well see it through!

Glaring at his former sensei and teammate, he mustered a crackling chidori in hand.

"Naruto!" he bellowed, charging.

The blonde shinobi reacted instantaneously. A shadow clone was created in a heartbeat, and in the next second, a humming sphere of rotated chakra spun on his palm. With a wild war cry, he met his ex-teammate head on.

Energy converted into heat and light, making itself noticeable as, for one silent second, a sheet of white light blinded everybody present. Everything faded into the blank whiteness, before an explosion rocked the whole area and flung the two shinobi in opposite directions like dry leaves tossed away from the heart of a cyclone.

_'Sasuke! Naruto!' _Sakura's mental cry rang through Sasuke's mind.

Kakashi leapt up and barely managed to catch his blonde student, the two of them flying through the air to come crashing down into the water, sending the surplus of water shooting in all directions.

Sasuke, meanwhile, was thrown backwards towards the stone side of the gorge, only to have his impact cushioned by a white, fleshy mass. He slid down the side of the wall, landing ungracefully on the water's surface, panting hard.

It was still inconceivable to him to have the fact thrown in his face again and again that the dobe could match his attacks, blow for blow.

A scream caused his head to jerk up reflexively. His eyes collided with panicked green ones, unable to comprehend the scene before him for a second.

Sakura berated herself fiercely as she struggled against Madara's iron grip.

_'Idiot!' _she reprimanded herself, _'You should have known that Sasuke and Naruto could take care of themselves! You shouldn't have let yourself get distracted!'_

Nausea rose in her throat, making her gag, as Madara's malignant chakra enveloped her in a suffocating cocoon. His minds pounded at her defenses, the onslaught growing so violent that, had Sakura not shielded the minds of the others present, his careless attacks would have killed everybody else. Veins stood out in her neck and temples as he slowly began to rip bits and pieces off of Sakura's mind.

"Sasuke, we're leaving," the elder Uchiha called calmly, as if he didn't have his hands full with a kicking, screaming, biting hellcat. As she flailed futilely, her wild eyes happened to lock onto Sasuke's. She didn't really take note of it at that moment, too preoccupied with struggling, but a strange expression crossed the Uchiha heir's face as he beheld her despair.

Sakura wriggled and writhed with her full body, anything to throw off the masked man's hold on her. Her mind shrank in on itself, trying to salvage whatever parts of itself that had remained unharmed in the skirmish.

_'Kami, no!' _she despaired, forgetting that all the people present could hear her. Pictures of her dead relatives, killed by Madara's hand, flashed before her eyes. She remembered the horrific memories she had ripped from his minds last time she'd fought him, and her heart slammed against her ribcage in fright.

_'Don't let him win! Don't let him get you like he got everybody else! No, no, no! Somebody, help me! Anybody, anyone—HELP ME!'_

The mental shriek tore through the immaterial world, shredding her eardrums with the power of her distress. Naruto, Kakashi, Yuuhi, and Sasuke all clapped their hands over their ears, wincing in pain as her voice exploded through their minds.

Her cry rang over the whole world simultaneously, its magnitude doubling and tripling itself as it echoed, each repetition booming louder and louder instead of decreasing in volume as a call would in the material world.

Sakura continued to scream, undiluted fright fueling her efforts, unaware of the fact that she and the people she was connected to were leaking blood from their ears by the force of her call. And even though Madara's minds weren't in direct contact to her, they cringed and bowed before the intensity of the strength she exuded.

And just like that, it was over. Shocked out of her panic attack, Sakura's eyes froze in two wide saucers as a voice reverberated across all of their minds like thunder.

_"Who dares threaten Rokukan Sakura, daughter of Rokukan Yuya? Who dares invade her sacred Mind-of-the-Gods?"_

Dimly, Sakura registered the pealing voice turn on Madara in rage and declare in blistering anger:

_"Be gone with thee, thou of stolen flesh and minds. Thou hast lost nothing amongst those in this world. Be gone, and do not oppose the commands of the Heavens. Few chances to redeem yourself are yours yet, so beware of squandering them, Uchiha Madara!"_

A blast of rumbling, blazing, and _freezing_ energy slammed into the midst of Madara's minds, detonating like an atomic bomb and flinging the masked man's psychic army away from Sakura with devastating power. Petrified, Sakura watched as half of the controlled minds shattered and disintegrated into nothing more than wisps of weak mental energy which disappeared as well.

With a howl of anger and frustration, Madara's body recoiled, releasing Sakura, as the pieces of consciousness he had tainted the stolen minds with came hurling back to him all at once. Doubling over, he let loose a bellow of pain, his form shimmering in and out of the spiral teleportation jutsu he used. He tried to move, but found his body unresponsive.

He glared up at Sakura with a chilling expression in his visible, crimson eye.

"This… isn't… over…" he snarled menacingly. He hardly managed to spit out the last word before his body was sucked into his trademark swirling vacuum.

Silence.

Echoing, resolute silence, broken only by the dull roar of water rushing along the riverbed.

Kakashi released a stormy breath he had been holding unknowingly. Reaching up, he wiped a bead of blood away as it trickled down from his ear towards his jawline, his eyes tearing themselves away from Sakura to rest on the young Uchiha standing a distance away.

_'What are we going to do with him?' _the white-haired nin wondered, _'He doesn't seem like he'll attack, but he—'_

"Sakura!" Yuuhi broke the silence, snapping everybody out of their trance-like states as she cried out and threw herself at her kinsperson. The pinkette found herself tackled down by a blonde and blue blur before she had time to even comprehend what had happened.

"Are you alright?! Why can't you keep yourself out of trouble?" Tears rolled down Yuuhi's cheeks, tears of relief and emotional stress, as she hugged her distant cousin with every ounce of strength she possessed.

"I'm fine, I just—"

_"Rokukan Sakura."_

Sakura's eyes widened once more as her savior's voice rolled across her mind, the whites showing all the way around her irises as her muscles locked down in place.

"H-Hai?" she squeaked, too rattled to use her mental voice.

_"I have a message for you," _the voice was calm, throwing a stark contrast to the furious tones it had assumed just moments ago.

Sakura swallowed hard, her gaze flickering around the gorge, coming to rest on Sasuke. The young Uchiha's eyes were inscrutable, void of any emotion. With a start, she realized that he was ignoring everybody present, his entire focus fixed on her, and her alone.

"I… I'm listening," she whispered, answering the voice's unspoken question.

_"Rokukan Sakura, your time of calling has come. On behalf of the Stellar Council, as well as the Ancient Ones, I have come to bear you back to the land of your origin. This evening, make your way to any high, open place under the uncovered sky. You have until sundown to prepare yourself."_

XxXxX

She couldn't believe what she had just heard.

Her body felt as if it would never move again, all her attention consumed by absorbing the news.

She just couldn't fathom the full weight of the star's declaration. Shakily, she sat up in Yuuhi's grasp, a strangled voice she did not recognize as her own slipping past her lips.

"Must I? D-Do I really have to?"

_"You must." _The voice chimed sternly, unyieldingly, cutting off her protests.

Sakura hung her head, feeling the strength and willpower of the strange entity rushing through her mind. Closing her eyes, she embraced its foreign mind as much as she could, trying to unravel the completely alien thoughts, to understand its nature.

It was a fruitless attempt. Every time she tried to pick apart a thought, it broke into a handful of chiming notes, impossible to decipher.

_"Do not be saddened, Rokukan-san."_ The voice softened. Up until this point, it had shown not a hint of emotion apart from anger and passiveness. Now, however, it almost sounded as if the star was trying to console her.

_"You will find many mysteries in the Heavens. Perhaps even a way to stay in contact with your acquaintances here on earth."_

Sakura's eyes snapped open.

"You… You really mean it?"she inquired breathlessly, heart thudding erratically.

_"I do not lie."_

"And I have till this evening?" she forged onwards.

_"Yes."_

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she shakily got to her feet, prying Yuuhi's frozen hands off of her. Squaring her shoulders, she gazed across the water, summoning the last shreds of courage at her disposal.

"I guess so be it." She ignored the way her voice quavered.

_"We will await you at the setting of the sun. Do not be late." _The majestic, otherworldly voice trailed off into the wind, leaving a girl behind who was now forced to contemplate her imminent earthly death.

XxXxX

A slight breeze ruffled the water's surface, wrinkling it into tiny waves. Water splashed at Sakura's toes through the open fronts of her sandals, yet she couldn't care less about it at the moment. She stood there, lifelessly staring into empty space. Echoes of that celestial voice replayed themselves over and over in her mind's ear, giving her an unneeded reminder of her fate.

Shaking her head, she turned to look at the people who had silently witnessed the terrible revelation.

Tears rolled down Yuuhi's fair cheeks, her trembling lips hidden behind a raised hand. She was silent, seemingly shocked speechless.

Kakashi, his Sharingan spinning in agitation, tucked his hands into his pockets to hide the shaking digits. When she met his gaze, he looked away immediately.

Naruto, however, met her eyes full on. The blue in his irises had darkened to a shadow, and he said quietly:

"Sakura-chan… Is there really no other way?" When she didn't answer, his voice rose, taking on a desperate note. "There has to be! Nobody has the right to just take you away!"

"But he does, Naruto," Sakura cut him off tiredly. "They do… They have the right to take back what was rightfully theirs."

"Please don't, Sakura," the Jinchuriki begged, expression fearful.

The look he received made him take a step back, bewildered. She was quiet, her face peaceful, as she gave him a last, regretful glance before turning to the last person standing silently at the edge of the group.

Sasuke was doing his best to stay far enough away from his former teammates, yet at the same time close enough to a specific one. His tired eyes constantly flickered over to his old sensei and male teammate, before returning to Sakura.

His mind was in an uproar.

_'So, Sakura is going to die.'_

At that, a tremor ran through his body before he could register it. Surprised, he followed the thought to its origin, doing his best to comprehend the situation.

She was leaving… She was going to be _gone_. Vanished. Disappeared. Erased.

Uncomfortable, he shifted his weight uneasily, becoming conscious of her heavy stare on him. Reflexively, he turned his face away, before catching himself and gritting his teeth. Slowly he swiveled his gaze back to meet her eyes.

Sorrow. Regret. Hesitancy. Fear. So many feelings played through her communicative eyes. He found himself unable to look away, matching her intensity with piercing scrutiny of his own.

Suddenly, he felt a gentle tendril of thought brush tentatively against his mind.

_'What are you going to do, Sasuke…kun?'_

A jolt of warmth surged through him. _Sasuke-kun._ She had just called him Sasuke-kun.

And as he stared into her eyes, he caught himself in the act of wondering if she would ever stop calling him that.

Squashing the thoughts, realizing that she could read them as easily as an open book, he responded:

_'I will return to the base with Madara.'_

_'Are you sure of that?' _Her question unnerved him. His eyes fell shut as he exhaled slowly.

_'… Yes.'_

_'Liar.'_

Indignant, he flashed her an irritated look, repeating and emphasizing:

_'I __**will**__ destroy Konoha.' _Even to himself, his statement sounded weak and unsure. As if to reassure himself, he muttered:

_'I will. For Itachi. For my Clan.'_

_'You are such a fool, Sasuke.' _Her voice took a melancholic turn, making him grimace. He wished she wouldn't use that tone.

Footsteps alerted him to the outside world. Tensing minutely, he watched with hawk-like eyes as Sakura approached him, step for step. As she drew closer, she raised a hand towards him, her eyes never leaving his.

_'I have something from you that I borrowed,' _she told him, still mind-to-mind.

His brow furrowed; when had he given her anything? From the corner of his eye, he perceived Naruto edging towards him bit by bit, Kakashi on his heels. Promptly, the young Uchiha rotated around Sakura, placing himself as far away from them as he could. Yet as the unique pinkette advanced upon him, he did nothing to stop her.

Finally, she halted a mere three feet before him, hand still outstretched.

_'Take my hand,' _she instructed quietly. Skeptically, all the while asking himself why he was cooperating, he gradually raised his own limb to cautiously entwine his fingers with hers.

The flood of chakra was unexpected, shocking. Jerking as if she'd just shot him with a chidori, his vision swam as his exhaustion temporarily receded. He felt her warm, soothing chakra pour through him, travelling from crown to toe, and he resisted the urge to close his eyes.

As the stream reduced to a trickle, he managed to form a coherent thought and asked her incredulously, almost accusingly:

_'What was that?'_

She smiled at him tiredly.

_'The chakra you lent to me in the Akatsuki base. I'm merely returning it with interest.'_

He gazed down at the slim fingers wrapped around his own scarred digits, trying to stem the rush of memories – and thus, feelings – her words invoked. Wordlessly, he pried his hand away from her, taking a step back to regain control.

_'I guess this is a good bye, then,' _she mused, staring up at him. Kami, he was tall, she thought wistfully, _'I have one more thing for you, now that you know the truth anyways…'_

As he stared in confusion, she retreated slowly back to her allies' side, eyes fixed on him.

Suddenly, a barrage of memories, Sakura's recollections, collided with his mind. Overwhelmed, he released a short snarl and leapt back, trying to push out the foreign thoughts.

And then he froze.

That face. _That face_. He knew that face, could remember it coughing up blood under spent, glazed eyes.

_'Nii-san…'_

Memories of Uchiha Itachi's voice echoed through the catacombs of Sakura's mind, and thus, transferring over to Sasuke's inner ears.

"_Save… Sasuke… if you… can,… Sakura. But… Konoha… come… first."_

Sakura's voice rang forth then, confused and strangely desperate.

"_What? Itachi, what do you mean? Itachi!"_

The recollections faded, and Sasuke blinked in shock. Through frozen, wide eyes, he watched as Sakura leapt into the air, bounding up the side of the gorge to reach the top of the bridge. He wanted to move towards her, stop her, but his body was locked in place by his overpowered mind.

Helplessly, he could only stand there and watch the others follow her, deserting him at the bottom of the gorge. A small part of him marveled at the fact that Naruto merely threw him a tight-lipped, wordless glance before ascending after the pinkette. The young Uchiha didn't bother with trying to decipher the cryptic look.

Silence descended over the water's surface.

_'What… was that?' _He didn't understand. Sakura had had contact with Itachi? When had that happened? He hadn't ever seen her around him…

Yet… With her newly revealed ability to communicate mind-to-mind… Was it really so impossible for her to have conversed with his brother?

The answer tied his throat shut. No. No, it was not impossible. Sakura had been talking to Itachi.

Sasuke expected the wave of anger and received it. Why hadn't she told him? She should have told him! It was essential to him, so _why hadn't she told him?!_

Itachi's words reverberated through his skull once again.

Konoha comes first.

A feeling of despair engulfed Sasuke.

Was that how it was? Did Itachi not care about him so much after all?

His vision began to blur.

He had justified all his actions against Konoha based upon Itachi's love for him. To Sasuke, the love of his older brother had been everything ever since he'd learned the truth. Itachi had suffered through hell to keep him safe. But now… Now he was just supposed to believe that Konoha was more important than himself?

_'Itachi…' _

Raising troubled eyes to the sky, Sasuke reflected silently that he had no clue what was right or wrong anymore. The truth, it seemed, was an unsolvable puzzle, rich in confusion and hardships, yet promising an answer so tantalizing, Sasuke felt himself compelled to chase after it until the end of his days if need be.

Heavy eyelids slid shut over vivid ebony irises.

He needed to think. He needed to find out what to do next. His chest felt too tight, his heart too heavy. He felt an explicit aversion to Madara after what he had witnessed, and also because he had never liked the elder Uchiha from the start.

In that moment, Sasuke made decision.

He knew he was confused and hurt, far more than he'd ever been in his life. This wasn't the stab of agony and hate after a shocking event, oh no! This was the dull, throbbing ache of one whose heart had been broken, and for a while.

He needed to get away from everything. He couldn't bear to face the world for a time.

Fresh resolve gathered and formed in his mind.

Sasuke was not going back to Madara, nor back to Konoha. He was going somewhere far, far away. For the first time in his life, he was going to leave the past behind… at least for a while.

XxXxX

XxXxX

**A/N**

My dear readers, reviewers, subscribers and supporters,

Two and a half years ago, I released the first chapter of my story 'Cherry Bridge'. I didn't expect much attention, maybe a few reviews, some follows, etc. When the first review appeared in my inbox, I was ecstatic. Imagine my surprise when more and more feedback trickled in! I was amazed, amazed and excited beyond belief. :)

I don't think I would have ever picked up this story again if it hadn't been for you guys. I owe you all big time for giving me a kick in the bum. ^^ Writing is an important part of me, and I am almost _angry_ at myself for forgetting that.

This past year has been an intense one. I got together with an amazing guy last year and experienced some of the happiest times of my life with him. But, like lots of naïve teenage girls, I blindly followed an impossible dream and ended up shattered.

That was a week ago. He left me a week ago.

Now, I know you guys are all wondering why I'm writing this, but… I've come to the conclusion that, you know what? I think being with him kept me from writing. I did write, here and there, but the real joy had left me… Suffering breeds understanding, they say, and while I am sad (understatement) about the bad ending our relationship took, I have learned so much more in return.

I will not neglect this story, that is a promise. Just… give me some time to adjust to life again, ok? You guys are the BEST out there, and I send you many virtual hugs and cookies. Once I've stabilized, I will update the next chapter.

Lots of love,

EbonyEye

P.S. On the bright side… Writing Sasuke's brokenhearted emo thoughts was a piece of cake in my current state! Having your world pulled from under your feet, tumbling through the abyss of despair… I think I can relate slightly with how he felt. ^^

XxXxX


	23. Chapter 23

.

.

.

.

.

**Cherry Bridge**

XxXxX

_**Summary Chapter 22**_

_An intense, staggering battle takes place between the Konoha shinobi and the two Uchiha. After Sakura is saved from Sasuke by Kakashi, she realizes that the most logical path to take would be to kill the young Uchiha – however, her Inner, her second mind, resurfaces and angrily reminds her that such an act would be very unlike the real Sakura. In the ensuing clash between Sakura and Madara, Sakura gathers everybody's minds – minus Madara's – to connect with hers, thus protecting them from the mental battle. When she gets distracted by Naruto and Sasuke, Madara seizes her and would have overwhelmed her, had not a star intervened and deterred the elder Uchiha. After the masked man is forced away, the star announces that Sakura's time on earth is up, and that the Heavens are waiting for her to pay the price of having a second mind. The Konoha shinobi depart, leaving Sasuke to figure out his next step. He chooses to retreat somewhere in hiding, alone._

XxXxX

**A/N**

My goodness, you guys are my favorite people! Many thanks to all who offered their condolences; it was a comfort to read every single review that you left for me. You all have my sincere gratitude for sticking around. ^_^

Anyways, Merry Christmas! This is my present to you guys ;) Enjoy!

XxXxX

_East or west – home is still best._

XxXxX

XxXxX

**Chapter 23**

There were several moments of Haruno—no, Rokukan Sakura's life that she could easily define as 'indescribable'. For example, that heart-stopping moment where Kakashi accepted Team 7 as his students – moments after threatening to murder them for disobeying him. Another example would definitely be where Sakura first felt Sasuke's evil curse mark flood his skin and heart, setting his eyes ablaze with bloody light. It had been terrifying and definitely an unforgettable moment.

The list of gut-wrenching, jaw-dropping, heart-pounding events could go on for miles… And the feeling of stepping through Konoha's newly rebuilt gate fell into that category.

Blinking at the proud red pillars through watering eyes, she hiccupped once strangely, drawing the eyes of her companions to herself.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto inquired hesitantly.

Something inside of her snapped.

A strangled choke escaped her lips. As the other shinobi stared at her with concern, the choke evolved into a giggle. More and more hysterical giggles worked their way out of her throat, soon turning into full-blown laughter.

Bent nearly double, Rokukan Sakura laughed. She laughed to see her beloved home. She laughed because she had been through _so damn much._ She laughed because everything was the same, and yet everything was completely different. She laughed because… she was so relieved.

Wiping tears of mirth away, she spun on her heel to face her companions just as Kakashi murmured with amusement:

"Oh, well… Let her have her happiness."

All of them were watching her as if she had suddenly sprouted a second – and third – head but she couldn't care less. Smiling so hard that her cheeks hurt, she suddenly flung her arms heavenward and proclaimed:

"I'm back! I'm _home!"_

Weeks of training new, shocking techniques, fighting a psychopath, living next door with an ex-teammate… it all was being soothed away by the beautiful sight of her home. Her village.

_'Home,' _she savored the word, rolling it around in her mind, _'There is nothing better than home.'_

Excitement cleared all inhibitions. Splitting a piece of her consciousness into her second mind, she launched herself from the confines of her body to soar around her beloved village. She flew past constructions sites, past newly painted buildings, past laughing civilians in the bustling marketplace, past the Hokage Tower, past—

Her mind screeched to a stop. The Hokage Tower!

Scanning the infrastructure in her mind, she took note of Tsunade's absence. Worry niggled into her thoughts. Sakura frowned, turning to Kakashi.

"Kaka-sensei," she asked anxiously, "How is Tsunade-shishou doing?"

The copy nin met her gaze evenly.

"She's in coma, Sakura," he replied as gently as possible. Warily, he watched as she gazed in the direction of the Hokage Tower, her eyes fearful.

Unlike the rest of the shinobi present, Kakashi had enough experience to see what was going through Sakura's head. He couldn't even fathom how much the young kunoichi had been through in a matter of weeks whereas other people had experienced the same amount of stress during their whole lifetime. Those brief moments where Uchiha Madara had crushed her in his grip… Kakashi knew that he would never forget the brush of a foreign mind inside his own. And he knew he would also never feel the insane terror that Sakura had exuded during those moments.

She was exhausted, both in mind and body. He could see that. Slowly, he approached her and laid a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura," he intoned firmly, but gently, "Go home and rest. You really need it."

She shook her head at him.

"I can't," she answered just as softly, "Sensei, this is my last day in Konohagakure. I can't spend it sleeping."

"Ah, I see… Then what _do _you plan on doing?"

Sakura fell silent, contemplating. A plan began to form in her mind. With a spark of mischief in her emerald eyes, she whipped around to face Naruto.

"Naruto!" she called, her voice suddenly brimming with excitement.

"Huh?" the blond returned, sounding utterly clueless.

"We're going out tonight!"

"Of course, Sakura-chan, you know you can always count on m—WAIT, WHAT? HOLY CRAP!"

The pinkette giggled as the Number One Surprise Ninja flailed and sputtered in shock. Grabbing one of his arms, she steadied him and cheerfully clarified:

"Not that way, baka. We're _all _going out! Get everybody and we'll spend the evening together!" With 'everybody', she meant all of the Rookie Nine. Understanding dawned in Naruto's eyes and a huge grin split his face.

"Alright! Uzumaki Naruto's in the house! Let's PARTY-! _Oof!"_ Naruto's jubilant cry was cut short when Sakura gave him a not-so-gentle punch in the stomach.

"No, you idiot!" she chastised him. Rubbing his midsection tenderly, the blond stared at her in confusion. She was grinning, he realized with a jolt of happiness. She was beaming bright enough to rival the sun.

Rising to her toes, she bellowed:

"_Rokukan Sakura's_ in the house! _Shannaro!"_

XxXxX

The air was getting too thin to breathe in. Narrowing his eyes against the fierce, cold air of the upper atmosphere, Sasuke silently commanded his eagle summon to begin its descent. It obeyed willingly, its wings straining in the high altitude, gratefully dropping into a shallow dive.

Wisps of cloud raced past him, dragging their thin, moist fingers along his skin. He shivered but refused to pull up the high collar of his cloak. Intently, he gazed ahead.

Gradually, vague figures formed in the distance. Squinting, he realized with a jolt of irritation that the blurriness of the faraway forms was not due to the distance that lay between himself and the objects of interest.

He still remembered the screaming pain in his eyes during the recent battle. He knew that he had strained them beyond belief, and he also knew he deserved the throbbing ache seated deep behind his eye sockets. If he continued forcing his eyes with the Mangekyou, he would go blind. Sasuke was no idiot, even if he was slightly mad at this point.

Tiredly, he swiped a hand across his face. When he returned his gaze into the distance, he focused hard on the approaching landscape. Finally, _finally,_ he got close enough to lay his eyes on what he longed to see.

The remains of the Uchiha hideout.

The sight made him grind his teeth together in an uncharacteristic wave of sadness and hurt. It had taken him a while to overcome the warring fear and anguish and then finally set out for this place. This place that had cost Itachi his life.

The eagle landed amidst the rubble with a solid _thud._ Sasuke slid off its back in a single movement, absentmindedly dismissing it. With a curt bow, the bird of prey dispelled in a burst of smoke.

Unreadable onyx eyes swept across the ruined stone. Noiselessly, the young Uchiha stepped across the uneven surface surveying the damage. Memories rushed forth, unbidden, and Sasuke stiffened as he remembered every blow, every wound he had received and inflicted in this place. Instinctively, his hand came up to brush the skin under his eye. He recalled how Itachi had cast a genjutsu about how he would gouge his younger brother's eyes out.

Sasuke's heart increased a notch as he immersed himself in the past shock. He had been afraid, he remembered, afraid of his psychopathic older brother.

But now… looking at it in hindsight, he only felt a deep, lingering hurt and plenty of regret. His jaw clenched tight as he struggled with himself for a moment, wallowing in guilt and shame.

He had, after all, murdered his own _brother._

_'Itachi…' _he thought, turning his gaze up to the cloudy sky. He remembered how dark the heavens had been during their clash in this very spot.

_'Aniki… What were you thinking? Are you still watching me from somewhere?' _Swallowing the lump that had lodged itself in his throat, he tried to regain a shred of calmness.

Turning, he caught sight of the last standing slab of stone, protruding from the ruined landscape, thrusting upward symbolically. Automatically, his feet carried him to it in a heartbeat and he stood there, staring at the worn Uchiha crest painted onto the rock.

_'What are we now, Itachi?' _he thought bitterly, _'What are the Uchiha now? We are but a mere shadow of a past glory…'_

Miserably, he kicked a small pebble aside, watching it arc into the air. It fell out of sight at the edge of the rubble, and suddenly, he noticed the collapsed doorway that he had entered through at the beginning of the fight. Moving towards it hesitantly, he flipped a piece of stone over. It used to be the crosspiece of the doorway, and it still held the same words from back then. How the worn letters had survived the battle, he would never know.

His dark eyes scanned the words inscribed there once more.

_To all who do not know the sign of the Fan and the Red Crescent Moon, then behold: We are the Uchiha._

Confusion bled past the dull pain in his heart. He still didn't understand what the cryptic message meant. What was the Red Crescent Moon? His curiosity got the better of him and, despite his aching eyes, he activated his Sharingan, only to receive a shock.

The words were laced with an ancient, foreign chakra. Alarm instantly lanced through his head and he leapt back as if scalded, his own chakra swirling threateningly. When nothing happened, he warily crept back, examining the chakra once again.

It was very, very old, he could tell. The longer he looked at it, the more certain he became of the fact that he had never encountered such peculiar chakra before. It was difficult for him to describe what was so abnormal about the energy glimmering in the stone, but he concluded that it was too vibrant, too intense to be normal human chakra.

A scowl slipped over his face. Reaching out, he tentatively laid a hand across the stone. He concentrated, brow furrowing, and slowly drew a minute amount of chakra into his own body.

A searing blaze set his blood on fire. Gasping, he felt the foreign chakra race through him, burning unbearably hot. Sasuke growled to himself, stemming his own energy against the flow. The next surprise hit him abruptly.

His head snapped around as the rest of the chakra embedded in the stone leapt up, surrounding him in a stormy halo. A multitude of voices echoed through his mind, creating a cacophony of murmured words. Sharingan blazing crimson, Sasuke whipped his head from one side to the other, adrenaline making his hands shake. His heart was pounding now, completely out of control.

"Whatever you are, show yourself." He demanded viciously. When no answer came, and the chaotic hurricane of chakra around him only quickened its whirring, he readied himself to fight his way out of the mess.

Out of the hundreds of voice, a single one suddenly rang forth to his inner ears, shocking him and making him jump.

_"Thou hast the blood of the Moon," _the slow, drawling tone raised the hairs on the back of Sasuke's neck.

_"Speak, O bitter one," _the voice continued. It was hard to tell whether it was male or female. _"Who art thou? Why has this holy place been destroyed?"_

Sasuke unclenched his jaw with difficulty. He was used to ignoring orders, but somehow, he sensed it would be unwise to deny this voice an answer.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," he responded, his own voice even. "I came here recently to fight my brother—" here he swallowed thickly, "—and decimated the building with my last attack."

_"Ah… I see." _The voice paused and Sasuke fought the urge to fidget uncomfortably. While he was no stranger to power, the raw strength that the voice exuded was slowly, but surely, pressing him into submission.

_"It is a pity," _the voice finally said, _"This place was a sanctuary for those who wished to be saved. At times, we even chose to step in and shield them. Yet, this place fell into ruin a while ago and nobody ever came here again. We stopped coming here eventually."_

"We?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He did not like this whole situation. He did not enjoy feeling helpless before the sheer might of the strange speaker.

_"My sons and daughters and I," _the voice responded. _"We abandoned this place. Now thou hast revived the crest. Art thou seeking sanctuary, young one?"_

"No," he answered immediately, tone flat. But that foreign chakra flared strongly and spun faster, streaking through his veins in a jarring shock.

When the voice spoke again, it sounded amused.

_"Thy heart betrays thy thoughts, human. Thou art running away from something… What art thou running from?"_

Without his permission, a flood of memories were pulled from Sasuke's mind. Flashes of anger, burning heat of hate, dark tides of misery. All the past emotions spun through his head, leaving him breathless and disoriented. Finally, two faces appeared in his head.

One was Madara, the sight of his spiralled mask raising a surprising stab of fury. He did not know why, but everything about the man screamed 'danger'. You could not trust the man, that much was undeniably true.

And the other face… was Sakura. Green eyes alight with an unfathomable peace, a gentleness and understanding like no other radiating from her earnest face. He found himself unable to place what was so different about her expression from anybody else's he had ever seen.

_"Thy fears are justified," _the invisible speaker mused thoughtfully, _"Fear of Madara, fear for you Clan's future, and fear of a girl with mysterious powers," _the voice took an amused twist as it added, _"Although, perhaps you fear the girl herself and not her powers."_

The remark stung Sasuke's pride. Eyes narrowing into a fierce glare, he snapped:

"I fear no one and nothing."

_"Is that so?" _more amusement colored the voice. _"Foolish boy, thou hast only begun to scratch the surface of life. Should thou know life better, thou would fear many things."_

The chakra's whirling dance spun faster, tighter, as the voice started once more.

_"There is something that thou must see, young Uchiha. Turn thy steps towards Konoha, and wait on top of the Hokage Mountain by sunset."_

If possible, Sasuke's glare became more intense.

"Why should I?" he asked, irritated. "I refuse to get close to that damn place."

The voice lashed out with a sharpness that made Sasuke's mental ears cringe.

_"Insolence! Thou __**will **__go. That is an order, human."_

But the Uchiha heir wouldn't give up that easily. Ire leaking into his voice, he replied in a cutting tone:

"By whose orders, then? Yours?"

_"Yes, mine. He who holds up the Sky commands you. Now go, before I decide to let you be swallowed by your stubborn stupidity."_

Irked, Sasuke opened his mouth to retort, but the voice retreated from his mind. The fierce coils of chakra dropped from around his body, dissipating into thin air. All Sasuke could do was watch in mystified silence as every trace of the strange conversation disappeared.

For a few moments, he simply stood there, staring blankly over the heaps of rubble.

He knew he had two choices now. One, he could ignore and defy the strange voice's order and proceed northward, as he had originally planned. Or two, he could head into the Land of Fire, and go to the Hokage Mountain as he had been told.

An indecisive snort escaped his lips as he abruptly decided, turning to face the direction of his next destination.

It seemed he was going to pay Konohagakure a visit after all.

XxXxX

"Yes."

"No!"

"Yes!"

_"No!"_

_"YES!"_ Ino shrieked.

Sakura winced, her ears ringing. Placing her fingers at her temples and rubbing circles soothingly to herself, she attempted to calm herself.

"For the last time, pig… _No."_

They had been at this torture for almost an hour. After making sure Naruto remembered the rendezvous time with all the other Rookie Nine, Sakura had headed over to her apartment. Deftly unlocking the almost rusted lock, she had stepped into a bare, dusty room that resembled a cell in its emptiness. Thereupon she had remembered that she had moved all her belongings to her best friend's place before she had left for the Rokukan Temple.

Her _so-called _best friend.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Sakura exhaled slowly.

"Ino…" she began, teeth grinding, "I. Am. Not. Wearing. _That."_

"But what's _wrong _with _this?!" _Ino demanded, flourishing the tiny scrap of material. "If you wear this with that thong over there," she pointed at one of the many articles of clothing strewn over her bed, "it'll be a _perfect_ ensemble!"

When Sakura didn't respond, baby blue eyes softened. Gently, she grasped her friend's hands and pulled them away from their massaging.

"Listen, forehead," she said earnestly, "You won't ever be coming back… this is the last time I'll _ever _be able to hang out with you." She sniffled, tears already beginning to brim in her bright, bright blue eyes.

"So please, Sakura… Please?"

The pinkette sighed noisily. She made sure to look away from those pleading puppy-dog eyes as she thought the matter through.

Originally, she had told Ino that she wanted a 'quiet, personal gathering' for her last evening in Konoha. But the blonde had immediately insisted that, after the 'quiet, personal gathering', they go to a 'loud, impersonal party place', namely a club. After much nagging on Ino's part, Sakura had reluctantly agreed. But she was balking at the apparel that the other kunoichi was trying to get her to wear.

"Come on, forehead… for me?" Ino begged.

Sakura frantically cast her eyes around the blonde's flamboyant room. Her desperate gaze lit on a particular item of clothing hanging haphazardly from one shoulder in the large walk-in closet.

"Ino, what's that?" she pointed, not caring whether it was a rude gesture or not.

"Hm?" the blonde followed her line of sight and ambled over, proceeding to pull out a beautiful dress.

Bottle green eyes widened.

"Ino! Why didn't you tell me you had such a gorgeous dress?"

"This?" the blue-eyed kunoichi grinned sheepishly. "I forgot about this one… I received it for a mission, but never got to wear it, because it was too small for me. But, say…" her eyes lit up. "Try it on!" Eagerly, she shoved it into Sakura's arms and urged her into the bathroom.

"And no dawdling, forehead!" she shouted through the closed door.

"Hai, hai," the pinkette grumbled, struggling to pull the silky material over her head. "Easy, pig, I won't take ages… like… you…" her voice trailed off as she caught sight of herself in Ino's floor-length mirror.

Sakura stared in shock. Reaching up, she pinched her arm, watching as the young woman in the mirror before her mimicked the movement perfectly, her apple green eyes wide and her mouth agape.

Loud pounding made the door quiver in its frame, making both Sakura and her reflection jump.

"Oi, forehead! Did you drown in the toilet or something?"

Shaking herself, the pinkette absentmindedly crossed the room to open the door, her eyes not leaving the woman in the mirror. She hardly noticed Ino's wild squeal of delight as the blonde grabbed her hands to spin her in a circle.

"This dress was _made _for you!" Ino proclaimed enthusiastically, orbiting Sakura's still form with almost burning intensity.

"And if I lend you my pair of shoes… the golden ones, don't you think? Yes, those will be perfect! I'll do your hair, maybe put some curls in… Oh, and that adorable pink lip gloss that I have will match so well! What do you think, forehead?" She turned to her stunned friend and finally took note of her silence.

"Hello? Earth to Haruno!"

The name snapped Sakura out of her stupor.

"Rokukan."

"Hmm?" Ino hummed distractedly as she tugged on Sakura's shoulder length hair, eyeing it speculatively.

"My name is Rokukan, not Haruno," she repeated, swallowing. She felt, rather than saw, how the blonde froze, turning to give her her undivided attention.

"Why?" Ino demanded, before realization hit her. As Sakura's best friend since childhood, she knew very well that the medic had never had a father growing up. How many times had Ino wondered where and who the pinkette's father was? Gasping, she gushed in excitement:

"Did you find out who your father is?"

"_Was_," Sakura corrected her, her tone unintentionally sharp. But her voice softened apologetically as she added:

"Yeah, I did."

Ino was silent for a moment, digesting the new information. In a surprisingly even and serious tone for the blonde, she said:

"Ok. From the beginning. I'll do your hair in the meantime."

XxXxX

"There she is! She made it!" the bellow shook the club to its foundations, turning heads.

Ino, who had her arm looped through Sakura's as she literally dragged the other kunoichi into the club, rolled her eyes at the exuberant speaker.

"Naruto, get off the table _now!"_ she screeched back, her voice shrill. Startled, the Jinchuriki took a step back, tripped over a glass, and tumbled gracelessly off the table top. The resulting laughter was drowned out by thumping beat blasting from the speakers situating throughout the room.

By the time Naruto had scrambled to his feet, the two girls had reached the table. Warmth rushed through Sakura as she was the recipient of many a smile.

"You had us so worried, Sakura!" Tenten called, her reprimand softened by her easy smile. Beside her, Neji nodded his agreement, his pale eyes not holding its usual icy edge.

"Konoha was not the same without your radiance, my cherry blossom!" Lee added from next to Neji, glaring light reflecting off of his pristine white teeth. Sakura winced, but couldn't hold back a giggle at his antics. Her mirth only increased when Naruto protested loudly, pretending to shield his eyes.

"Turn off the disco ball, you freak!" he complained in mock anger as the group laughed. Hinata moved back slightly to allow the pinkette to slide into their cramped booth.

"W…Welcome back, S-Sakura-chan," the shy Hyuuga heiress greeted, a soft smile on her face. Kiba leaned around Hinata and grinned, adding:

"Sakura! It's good to have you back!"

"Thanks, Kiba," the medic replied, her eyes moving to the fanged boy's silent companion.

"Hello, Shino," she greeted. Light glinted off of the strange shinobi's glasses as he dipped his head once in acknowledgement.

"Sakura, welcome back," he drawled.

Sai, seated next to Naruto, gave her a bland smile and said:

"Took you long enough to get back, Ugly. Dickless was shitting his pants with worry."

Ignoring Naruto's enraged squawk, Sakura grinned and leaned across the table, whacking the pale artist none too gently.

"Only Naruto?" she asked, her voice dangerously sweet. Fortunately, Sai knew that particular tone and swiftly backpedalled.

"I suppose I was worried too," he spoke, his face completely blank. Sakura sighed – his social skills really hadn't improved – but still smiled at him.

"Why, thank you, Sai!"

Ino shrieked suddenly, shifting everybody's focus to the blonde where she was wedged between Shikamaru and Tenten.

"You absolutely _useless_ human being!" she snarled, bringing her fist down on top of Shikamaru's unfortunate head repeatedly. He winced, ducking down, trying to avoid the blows raining down on him.

"Troublesome," he muttered gloomily. Raising his gaze to Sakura's, he lifted a hand and gave her a halfhearted wave.

"Yo."

"Is that the _best _you can do?!" Ino snapped. Without awaiting an answer, she turned to Sakura and simultaneously slapped her lazy teammate across his lazy face with her golden ponytail.

"Never mind him, the ass," she grumbled. "He's actually happy to have you back too, forehead."

The pinkette bit back a laugh and nodded at the poor Nara who was rubbing his skull with a quiet 'troublesome woman'. Beside him, Choji munched noisily on his customary chips, bobbing his head at Sakura.

Naruto interrupted then, his voice loud enough to be heard over the throbbing music.

"Alright! Now that our main person is here," he gestured wildly at Sakura, "We can finally get down to business!" His palm smacked the tabletop as he bellowed:

"Waiter, drinks all around!"

_'Ohh, Kami,'_ Sakura couldn't help giggling nervously they began handing glasses around. _'This was __**definitely**__ a bad idea…'_

XxXxX

_'Cha! Best idea __**ever!**__' _Sakura drunkenly cheered in her mind. As her vision sharpened and blurred unnaturally, she stumbled, nearly dropping the glass in her hand. Her hips swayed to the pounding bass, vibrating through her ribcage as she danced. She laughed as Ino whistled at her, her call of '_Damn_, girl!' drowned out by the droning music.

She tipped more of the drink – what was it again? – down her throat, tilting her head back to savor the taste. Swallowing, she spun and handed the drink to a random person standing at the edge of the dance floor, her petite figure already whirling away with as much grace as a drunken kunoichi could afford.

She continued to dance the evening away. Laughing, she found herself recalling and retelling stories and tales with the Rookie Nine, sharing old jokes and bathing in the glow of their company and the delightful fuzziness in her head. She danced with almost everybody, whether they could actually dance or not. The point was to share this last evening with her friends, even if it was Lee who couldn't dance for shit.

Eventually, though, her feet grew sore. Excusing herself, she made her way back to their empty booth, fully intent on removing her shoes and giving herself a foot massage. Just as she reached for one shoe, she suddenly had the distinct feeling of eyes on her. Turning her face over a shoulder, she gazed out of one of the windows situated in the far wall. But it was too dark to discern anybody outside. Subtly, she flared her chakra, trying to sense if there was anybody there, but her drunken, wavering concentration hindered her efforts.

Fear was easily brushed away by the alcohol in her system. Instead, she rose, curiosity urging her towards the exit. Casting one last glance at her friends, she giggled. A wasted Ino was sprawled over an equally inebriated Shikamaru, poking his cheek repeatedly. The Nara boy didn't seem annoyed in the least; in fact, he was smirking at the blonde's antics. Naruto was in the middle of the process of punching Sai, effectively sending the former Root member flying back before knocking over a couple making out, and, goodness, was that Tenten and _Neji?_

_'I have the best friends in the world.' _Sakura's grin had a slightly loopy quality as she slipped out of the club. Nobody noticed her silent departure, the music blaring on.

It was quiet outside. Sakura followed the street, the thumping bass fading away in the distance. As she walked onwards, the fog in her head slowly dissipated, leaving a slight headache behind. With a pained groan, Sakura stopped, her hands coming up to form seals. Her mentor's cheeky smile appeared in her mind as she performed a jutsu that erased a hangover within a second.

_'Thanks, shishou!' _she sighed with relief as the throbbing in her head abated, leaving her completely sober. Cheering the Godaime's brilliance, she continued her walk down the street.

Minutes slipped by as the pinkette ambled down the road. Pavement gave way to gravel, and then dirt. Blinking, she realized that she had reached the foot of the Hokage Mountain.

_'Huh? How did I end up here?' _She knew that the club had been situated at the edge of the village, but she still didn't expect to be so close to the historical site. Shrugging, she was about to turn away when an insistent tug jerked at her second mind.

"Nani?" she gasped. Stubbornly, her second mind pulled and pulled. Sakura grimaced, trying to wrestle it into submission. Why was it acting up now?

A presence hit her then, setting her senses on fire and making her nerves tingle. Her eyes whipped up towards the peak of the Hokage Mountain, widening.

_'Sasuke?'_

What was he doing here? Breathlessly, she crouched and sprang, ignoring the way her stiletto-clad feet protested. In her haste to ascend straight up the face of the Hokage Mountain, she nearly lost her footing twice as she leapt up the craggy recesses.

After what seemed like an eternity, she landed on the top of the mountain. Her searching eyes immediately fell on the figure standing regally at the edge of the cliff, staring down at the village. Her heart went into a frenzy, beating up a storm in her chest.

For a single second, her control slipped. One second was all it took for her squirming mind to escape her grasp and race over to the silent young man. One second, and her second mind was enveloping him in a warm embrace, her traitorous thoughts calling out to him.

_"Sasuke-kun!"_

Her already racing heart fluttered as dark, inscrutable eyes fell on her. She forgot how to breathe as she watched something flicker in those eyes, his bottomless black gaze paralyzing her, drawing her in.

"… Sakura."

XxXxX

He didn't know what he had expected. He had followed the invisible speaker's order, yes, but he hadn't given any thought to what exactly would happen upon arriving at the Hokage Mountain.

So, he really didn't know what to expect…

_'… but __**definitely**__ not this,' _he thought, swallowing hard as he tore his eyes off of those long, shapely legs.

After meeting Sakura's emerald green eyes, his gaze had dropped, automatically fulfilling the very obvious purpose of the dress. He just _couldn't _look away.

She looked like an angel. Soft waves of pink curls swept to one side, tumbling down a pale, bare shoulder. Loose strands corkscrewed beautifully, framing her face in a halo of pink. His eyes trailed from the graceful arch of her bare shoulders to the sweetheart neckline of the snow white dress she wore. Curling golden embroideries of vines and leaves adorned the hem and accentuated her trim figure, the snowy fabric hugging her waist snugly all the way down to her hips, where the skirt flared out. The front ended around mid-thigh, while the back was a mass of voluminous ruffles, swaying an inch above the ground. Gold trimmed the skirt's edge, matching the pair of strappy, five-inch stilettos that drew his eyes to those silky, creamy legs.

He couldn't move, couldn't think. A voice echoing through his head made him, _the _Uchiha Sasuke, flinch and jerk his gaze back to those jade irises that stared back at him with piercing intensity.

_"Sasuke-kun!"_

For a moment, he couldn't even remember how to speak. At last, he managed to gather his scattered thoughts enough to rasp:

"Sakura."

He watched, fascinated, how her eyes fluttered closed for a second, those long, dark lashed brushing her cheekbones.

Sakura, on the other hand, was struggling with the wave of emotions threatening to overwhelm her. He didn't seem hostile; his posture was relaxed and calm. But still… just that morning, he had tried to kill her with a chidori.

Silence fell like a thick, suffocating blanket as they stared at each other. As the pause lengthened, Sakura finally drew enough courage to speak.

"What are you doing here?"

Her voice was soft, barely over a whisper, drifted over the distance to his ears. He considered not answering her at all, but those brilliant green eyes pulled unbidden words from his mouth.

"I was sent here."

Silent fear stole across her features and she took a step away. Seeing her retreat like that, so frightened and vulnerable, triggered an instinctual need to explain himself, to bring her back.

"Madara didn't send me, Sakura." He marveled at how those few words could change the whole situation. The pinkette stopped, her head tilting to one side as she digested his statement slowly. Hesitantly, she took a step forward. And another.

Sasuke watched as she came forth towards him. Her advance was nervous and halting, but finally, she stood a mere five feet away from him. Her proximity raised his heartbeat a notch and he took a steadying breath. The scent of cherry blossoms and spring invaded his senses and for a moment, he was dazed.

"Who sent you, if not Madara?" he heard her inquire, sounding puzzled. As he opened his mouth, a voice not his own interrupted their moment, shattering whatever it was that they had had.

_"Rokukan-san, it was my Master who requested that Uchiha-san be brought here."_

Sakura gasped, recognizing the voice. It was the same star that had spoken to her earlier that day. The same one that had driven Madara off before informing her of her spent time.

Her second mind, still dwelling around Sasuke's thoughts, allowed him to hear the star as well. A scowl marred his handsome face as he asked:

"I was not commanded by you." Suspicion laced his tone.

_"And rightly so, young Uchiha," _the voice replied, _"I do not operate under the Red Moon's orders."_

Sakura glanced at Sasuke, meeting his gaze. She knew that the star had lost them both. As if sensing their confusion, the star went on:

_"Now is not the time to clarify rights of birth, young ones. Rokukan-san, you must hurry. You will be late otherwise." _Without giving her a chance to protest, the voice addressed Sasuke.

_"You were brought here, Uchiha-san, for the purpose of guarding Rokukan-san."_

"Guarding…?" his eyes slipped to Sakura's again, seeing her incredulous expression.

_"Yes, guarding. You are charged with the care of Sakura-san's body when her mind and spirit leave this world."_

Sakura choked.

_"Hold on!" _she directed her mental voice at the star. _"Why was he chosen to guard my body? And guard it for __**what?**__"_

_"Rokukan-san," _the star intoned firmly, _"I do not have the answers you seek. You are being called to the Heavens, and I am but a messenger to my Master's wishes. You will find your answers in the Heavens. All I can tell is that you have a key role in this world's future, and that the Heavens aren't willing to risk your safety. So," _the star turned to Sasuke again.

_"Will you fulfill your role as Rokukan-san's protector?"_

Sakura swallowed, her eyes so wide she was sure they were going to pop out of her skull. Time seemed to slow down as Sasuke's dark gaze slid over to meet her eyes, holding them. As he hesitated, her heart slammed against her ribs and she found herself hyperventilating by the time his lips parted and he finally spoke.

"Aa, I will."

XxXxX

**A/N**

Et voilà, Chapter 23! Sooooo…. What's gonna happen next? Did you guys like Sakura's goodbye party? And Sasuke in charge of Sakura's body when her consciousness leaves… *le gasp!* Anyways, I almost didn't finish this chapter in time, but yeah, I made it somehow! It probably has tons and tons of rough edges and typos, so please forgive me.

Reviews? *puppy eyes*

And Merry Christmas again! Hugs and cookies to you all, you guys are all the best!

Ja ne!

EbonyEye

XxXxX


End file.
